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ILLUSTRATED 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 



A HAND-BOOK FOR 



CITIZENS AND GENERAL READERS. 



BY 



T. H. KIRK, M. L., 

Minnesota State Institute Conductor of the Winona Normal School. 



St. Paul: [o 'J^V ^2 1^8 

D. D. MERRILL, XC^WAsAiiJ*: 

1887. 



COPYRIGHT, 1S87. 
BY D. D. MERRILL. 




PREFACE 




This edition of the Illustrated History of Minnesota has been ar- 
ranged for the benefit of the general reader, whose attention at the 
outset is specially called to the complete and accurate set of notes 
and statistical tables which add greatly to the value and interest of 
the main text. 

In preparing it, I have found some difficulties in my way. The 
greatest grew out of the complex nature of the book itself; because 
it seemed necessary to make it a reasonably complete work of ref- 
erence, and yet bring it within brief space ; to make it interesting 
to younger readers, and still vigorous enough for the older. It is 
plain to see the position of compromise into which these opposing 
elements forced me. Some annals, for example, useful as refer- 
ences, but in themselves not of the highest historical value, had to 
find place at the risk of sacrificing the force of the main narrative. 
Then, too, there are some details of interest to young people which 
to an older person might in some degree seem trivial. The labor 
of verifying facts where conflicts existed among authorities has 
been another great difficulty, and one hardly to be appreciated by 
any save those who have undertaken such a task as this. 

Nevertheless, I have had some peculiar advantages. Most of the 
scenic ground had become familiar to me through frequent visita- 
tions before the thought of writing this outline entered my mind. 
Since then, no opportunity for exploration has been thrown away. 
It has been of inestimable profit, also, to meet and converse with 
many of the historic characters, some of whom have since passed 
to their rest without leaving any written records. Moreover, 
throughout my labor, I have had free access to the rich collections 
of the Minnesota Historical Society. 

3 



PREFACE. 



I cannot do less here than express my gratitude to the many old 
scouts, soldiers, and settlers who have aided me freely. In particu- 
lar, thanks are due the living governors for facts bearing upon their 
administrations; to the late Dr. Stephen R. Riggs, to his son Al- 
fred L. Riggs, of Santee Agency, Nebraska, to his daughter, Mrs. 
M. R. Morris, of Sisseton Agency, Dakota, and to the venerable 
missionary W. T. Boutwell, of Stillwater, all for information re- 
specting Indian life; to J. Fletcher Williams, secretary of the His- 
torical Society, for numerous courtesies; and to Dr, Edward D, 
Neill, the historian, who read most of the manuscript, and by 
personal counsel and hearty appreciation lent good cheer to my 
endeavor. 

T. H. K. 




CONTENTS 




PAGE. 

Days of the Voyageurs — 

Physical Features * 15 

The Dakotas 19 

First Explorers 25 

Groselliers and Radison 26 

Rene Menard 28 

The Fur Traders 29 

Nicholas Perrot 29 

Du Luth . .' 30 

Hennepin 33 

Ft. St. Antoine 37 

La Hontan's Long River 38 

Ft. Le Sueur 39 

Ft. Le Huillier 40 

Ft. Beauharnois 42 

The Northwest Passage 45 

French and English Supremacies 47 

Carver's Expedition 47 

• Indian Wars 50 

Wabasha's Mission 52 

The Northwest Company 54 

Bep'ore the Territory — 

Territorial Changes 56 

Pike's Expedition 57 

Minnesota Indians in War of 1812 60 

Traders and Selkirkers 62 

Expedition of 1817 63 

Ft Snelling 65 

Crawford County 69 

Lewis Cass's Expedition ... 69 

The Fur Companies 'Jo 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

The First Mills 72 

Selkirk's Colony 72 

First Steamboat 7? 

Cass Treaty Broken 74 

Long's Explorations 74 

Source of the Mississippi 75 

Count Beltrami 80 

Indian Treaties 80 

Border Wars 81 

The Swiss Settlers 82 

Schoolcraft's Expedition 82 

Featherstonhaugh 85 

Catlin 85 

Dred Scott 88 

Nicollet 88 

First Protestant Missions 94 

Events of 1837 95 

Removal of Sv^^iss Settlers 97 

Battle of Pokeguma ... 97 

St. Croix County 100 

Settlement of St. Paul 100 

Resume 102 

The Territory — 

Organization 104 

First Newspaper ; 106 

Governor Ramsey 106 

Judicial Districts 106 

Council Districts 107 

Notes of Interest 107 

Immigration 107 

First Legislature 107 

The Historical Society 109 

First Public School 109 

The Great Seal 109 

Initial Treaties no 

Navigating the Minnesota iii 

Growth of St. Paul in 

Second Legislature 112 



CONTENTS. 



Partisan Disputes 112 

Spirit of the Press 114 

Public Buildings 114 

Territorial University 114 

Ojibwa Famine 114 

Traverse des Sioux Treaty 114 

Mendota Treaty 115 

Political Parties 116 

Third Legislature ...» 116 

Material Development 116 

Settlements 116 

The St. Peter River 117 

Change of Chief Justices 117 

Fourth Legislature 117 

Governor Ramsey's Message 117 

Prohibition 119 

Proposed Division of School Fund 119 

Governor Gorman 119 

Removal of the Sioux 120 

Delegates to Congress 120 

Fifth Legislature 1 20 

Governor Gorman's message 120 

Northwestern Railroad Company 120 

President Fillmore's Visit 121 

Land Grants 121 

Congress Interferes 121 

Sixth Legislature 122 

Gorman's Veto 122 

The Charter Annulled 122 

Republican Party Organized 123 

Hazel wood Republic 123 

Seventh Legislature 124 

Governor Gorman's Views 125 

Popular Themes 125 

Eighth Legislature 125 

Attempted Change of Capital 126 

Inkpadoota Massacre 1 26 



lO CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



The Enabling Act 129 

Governor Medarj 129 

Constitutional Conventions 130 

Act of Admission 130 

The State — 

I. — Sibley's Administration 131 

Governor Sibley 131 

The New Era 132 

Issuing the Bonds 133 

Normal Schools 133 

International Transit 133 

II. — Ramsey's Administration 136 

Governor Ramsey 136 

Ramsey's Inaugural 137 

The State University 137 

Third Legislature 137 

The Rebellion 137 

Military Record of i86i 138 

Military Record of 1862 139 

The Sioux Massacre 140 

III. — Ramsey-Swift Administration 153 

Ramsey's Re-election 153 

Governor Swift 153 

Sully-Sibley Campaign 153 

Military Record of 1863 154 

IV. — Miller's Administration 156 

Governor Miller 156 

Military Record of 1864 156 

Military Record of 1865 159 

Material Progress 160 

V. — Marshall's ist Administration i6o 

Governor Marshall 160 

Administration Notes 161 

VI. — Marshall's 2d Administration 162 

Re-election 162 

Reform School 162 

Capital Removal 162 

Northern Pacific Railroad 162 

Marshall's Last Message 163 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

PAGE. 

VII. — Austin's ist Administration .... 163 

Governor Austin 163 

Great Civil Topics 164 

University Lands 166 

Internal Improvement Lands 166 

Administration Notes 166 

VIII. — Austin's 2d Administration 167 

Re-election 167 

Biennial Sessions Proposed 167 

Amendments Adopted 167 

Seeger's Impeachment 168 

The Grangers 168 

IX. — ^Davis's Administration 169 

Governor Davis 169 

Railroad Legislation 169 

The Locusts 172 

Administration Notes 173 

X. — Pillsbury's ist Administration 174 

Governor Pillsburj 174 

Status of the Railroad Bonds 175 

Bond Settlement Rejected 175 

Constitutional Amendments 175 

Xl.^Pillsbury's 2d Administration 175 

Re-election 175 

Review of June Election 175 

Page's Impeachment 176 

XII. — Pillsbury's 3d Administration 177 

Second Re-election 177 

First Insane Hospital Burned 177 

Burning of the Capitol 177 

Final Settlement of Bonds 178 

Cox's Impeachment 178 

Constitutional Changes 178 

XIII. — Hubbard's ist Administration 179 

Governor Hubbard i79 

Completion of the Northern Pacific 180 

Biennial Sessions Adopted 180 

Material Progress 180 

XIV. — Hubbard's 2d Administration 182 



12 CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Hubbard's Re-election 182 

Economic Growth 182 

Public Institutions « 184 

Civic Problems 184 

XV.— McGill's Administration 185 

Governor McGill 185 

Explanatory Notes 187 

Reference Tables 227 

Index 237 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Days of the Voj'ageurs 15 

Dakota Tipis 19 

St. Anthony Falls of Old 34 

Near Lake City 38 

Maiden Rock 38 

Frontenac 44 

Pointe au Sable 44 

Carver's Cave, looking in. . , 49 

Fountain Cave, looking out 49 

Looking up the St. Pierre 51 

Ojibwa House 52 

The Falls of Minnehaha 53 

Before the Territory 56 

Captain Carver 61 

Z. M. Pike 61 

William Morrison 61 

S. H. Long 61 

Lewis Cass 61 

H. R. Schoolcraft 61 

Mrs. Snelling 65 

Colonel Snelling 65 

Looking down the Mississippi 67 

Looking across the Minnesota 67 

Round Tower • 68 

Polygon Tower 68 

St. Peter's or Mendota 71 

American Fur Company's Post at Fond du Lac 73 

Chart of Lake Itasca 78 

Winnebago Cheracks 81 

Dalles of the St. Louis 84 

Tracking 86 

Crossing a Portage 86 

Camping on a Long Portage 86 



ILLUSTRATIONS. I3 



PAGE, 

Catlin Painting an Indian Chief 87 

Pictographs at Pipestone 89 

Pipestone Falls, wet season 91 

Pipestone Falls, dry season 91 

The Maidens 91 

The Manito 91 

Dakotas Digging Pipestone 92 

Castle Rock 93 

The Missionaries 96 

The Chapel of St. Paul loi 

Old Post-office loi 

New Post-office loi 

The Territory 104 

First Capitol of Minnesota 108 

Hole-in -the-day II i x i 

St. Paul in 1852 ii3 

Governor Gorman 119 

Little Paul 123 

Minneopa Falls 127 

Governor Medary 129 

The State ' 131 

Governor Sibley 132 

The Night Camp i34 

Ready to start from St. Paul i34 

Homeward Bound i34 

At St. Paul 13s 

On the Prairie i3S 

Governor Ramsey 136 

The Settler's Fate 142 

Acton Monument 144 

Other-day 146 

Within the Quadrangle 148 

The Indians' Ravine 148 

Little Crow 150 

The Ford 151 

Ruined Warehouse 151 

Upper Agency House 151 

Governor Swift iS3 

Governor Miller 1 56 

Governor Marshall 160 

Governor Austin 164 

Governor Davis 169 

Governor Pillsbury i74 

Governor Hubbard I79 

Bridge and Mills at St. Anthony Falls 181 

Glimpse of St. Paul to-day 183 

Governor McGill 185 



ILLUSXRAXED 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 




Physical Features. — The physical features oi a coun- 
try are very closely related to the historyi of its people ; 
if the earnest student, therefore, will consider all those 
here given, carefully and far more broadly than stated, 
he will discover in them a key to interpret some part of 
every page recording the beginning and growth of the 
great commonwealth of which the Minnesota region has 
become the seat. 



l6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Position and Surface. — Minnesota for the most 
part may be considered as a plain of diversified surface 
varying in elevation^ above the level of the sea from the 
six hundred tvv^o feet of its low^est valley to the twenty-two 
hundred of its highest hill summit. The crown of cen- 
tral North America lies within its boundaries. The 
united areas of its land and vs^ater surfaces, carefully esti- 
mated, are above eighty-four thousand square miles. 

Rivers. — It has four principal river systems : the St. 
Lawrence represented by the northern chain of lakes and 
the St. Louis river, all emptying into Lake Superior ; the 
main Mississippi with innumerable branches large and 
small ; the Red River of the North draining into Lake 
Winnipeg ; and the Missouri represented by one of its 
indiiect affluents the Rock. Many of these rivers^ run 
through deep narrow valleys walled in by ranges of one- 
sided hills, or bluffs, from w^hose summits the country 
extends backw^ard at its general level. This is also true of 
their tributary streams ; but approaching the ultimate 
sources of the systems, the bluffs become lower and lower 
until they finally dIsajDpear. Numberless small courses, 
traced by the periodic streams of wet seasons and springy 
cut through the bluff ranges of the larger channels. 
These, properly called ravines, add greatly to the pict- 
uresqueness of the scenery. 

Lakes. — According to surveys, the State has nearly 
ten thousand lakes varying In size from the miniature tarn 
to Red Lake three hundred forty square miles in extent. 
The shore lines present all the phases of cove, bay, low 
cape, lofty promontory, and far -extending peninsula, 
v^rhlle islands here and there stud the out-lying waters. 
Some are marshy and shallow, but common characteris- 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 1 7 



tics are great depth of "water and bottoms of sand and 
rock. The water is usually clear and wholesome, but m 
a few limited sections of the west somewhat alkaline. 

Clhnate. — While its snows of winter and rains of 
summer are copious, the atmosphere of Minnesota is dry 
and healthful by reason of its excellent drainage and com- 
paratively great elevation above tide water. The winters, 
some"what long and severe, are followed by brief springs 
which merge quickly into hot summers.^ These, in turn, 
are usually prolonged by many weeks of warm autumn 
weather known as the Indian summer. Bright days are 
the rule and cloudy the exception throughout the year; 
and the nights of summer are almost invariably cool. 

Soil. — The soil of the State consists in the main of rich 
sandy and clayey loams remarkably free from stones, and 
therefore it is generally arable or suitable for grazing. 

Flora. — Winchell estimates that, including their water 
surfaces, there are fifty-two thousand square miles of 
native forests in Minnesota. The greater part of this area 
lies east and north of a line drawn from St. Vincent to 
Fergus Falls, from there to St. Cloud, thence to Mankato, 
and finally to Hastings. The forests within the great tri- 
angle formed by the northern boundary. Lake Superior, 
and the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers are composed 
chiefly of white pine, Norway pine, tamarack, balsam, 
and white cedar. The remaining forests, besides certain 
narrow belts girting the lakes and fringing the rivers of 
the prairie regions, are made up of numerous species of 
deciduous shrubs and trees among which are the several 
varities of oak, ash, elm, birch, and maple. The most 
noted body of timber in this last section extends a hundred 
miles from north to south and fifty from east to west, thus 



iS HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



having an area of five thousand square miles. Its south- 
ern Hne is found in the counties of Bhie Earth, Waseca, 
and LcvSueur. It is caUed the Big Woods. 

The prairies produce many nutritious grasses of hixuri- 
ant growth which of old made them the favorite haunts of 
wild herds seeking pasturage. Among the species in two 
typical prairie counties, Prof, Warren Upham locates the 
beard-grass, or blue-joint, Indian-grass, muskit-grass, and 
porcupine-grass upon intermediate uplands ; another spe- 
cies each of beard and muskit grasses on dry knolls ; fresh 
water coi'd-grass and rice cut-grass in sloughs. Among 
the flowers, which are seemingly of every form and color, 
he enumerates the aster, golden-rod, blazing-star, rose, 
lily, harebell, phlox, and fringed gentian. 

Fauna. — The native fauna once included many fur- 
bearing animals ; but not a few of these, as the elk and 
bison, have vanished on the approach of civilization. 
Most worthy of mention among those still remaining in 
the remote forests are the otter, beaver, bear and deer. 
Many kinds of the wild duck and goose frequent the 
lakes, the partridge and pheasant are found in the woods, 
and grouse upon the prairies. Both lake and river 
abound in the varieties of fish common to the inland waters 
of the temperate zone. Worthy of note are the brook 
trout, pickerel, perch, rock bass, and wall-eyed pike. 

Minerals. — Fine grades of limestone, sandstone, 
quartzite, and granite, fit for both plain and ornamental 
building, are found in large quantities throughout the 
State. Extensive beds of brick and pottery clays are of 
frequent occurrence. Lead and silver crop out to some 
extent in both the eastern and northeastern sections, but in 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 



the latter rich, inexhaustible veins of iron and copper have 
also lately been discovered. 

The Dakotas. — The territory now included w^ithin the 
boundaries of Minnesota was originally occupied by the 
Dakotas,! one of the great families of American aborig- 
ines. This family, or nation, had three great divisions: 
the Santees,2 who 



formerly dwelt in 
the section adjacent 
to Lake Superior 
and the head waters 
of the Mississippi; 3 
the Yanktons,4 who 
occupied the region 
north of the Min- 
nesota ;5 and the 
T e e t o n s,6 who 
roamed over the 
vast prairies along 
the western border, 
and had their prin- 
cipal villages at Lac 
qui Parle^ and Big 
Stone Lake.8 The 
division first men- 
tioned Avas com- 
posed of four bands, dakota tipis. 
the next of two, the last of seven, and all of these were still 
further subdivided. Moreover, the Assiniboines,^ supposed 
to be an ancient offshoot of the Yanktons, were found estab- 
lished near the chain of lakes which form part of the north- 
ern boundary ; and various tribes, among whom were the 




HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



lowasio and Omahasii, hunted far to the southward, par- 
ticularly in the celebrated pipestone region and along the 
Blue Earth^2 and Des Moinesi^ rivers. But, \vhethcr by 
conquest or ancient heritage, Minnesota was peculiarly 
the land of the Dakotas, in which the other tribes men- 
tioned were but the sojourners of a day. Nomadic in 
their habits, yet deeply attached to the land of their 
fathers, on the one hand they were engaged in continual 
conflicts with the neighboring tribes, especially the 
Ojibwas^* their traditional enemies ; on the other, with a 
growing spirit of aggressiveness, were opposing them- 
selves to the onward march of civilization. Passionate in 
temperament and restive under restraint, they were quick 
to perceive a wrong ; fierce, revengeful, and relentless, 
they were ever ready to strike the blow of retaliation ; 
hence, as we shall see hereafter, bloody massacres stand 
like grim sentinels along the whole course of their history. 

The eminent Dakota scholar. Dr. Stephen R. Riggs, in 
his dictionary of the language of this nation, published by 
the Smithsonian Institution, gives an excellent account of 
them. It is here given with slight adaptations : — 

Origin. — " The Dakotas sometimes speak of themselves 
as the seven council fires. These are the seven bands: 

1. Mdewakantonwans^^ "^ 

2. Wapekutesic j ^ 

3. Wahpetonw^ansi" j ^ ' ^"-1 

4. Sissitonwans^^ J 

=;. Ihanktonwana I r ^r 1 . t 

r -(\ ^ . MX anktons 

o. inanktonwans j L J 

7. Titonwans |- ["Teetons.] 

Questions of priority and precedence among these bands 
are sometimes discussed. The Mdewakantonwans think 
that the mouth of the Minnesota river is precisely over the 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 21 



center of the earth, and that they occupy the gate that 
opens into the western world. These considerations seem 
to give them importance in their own estimation. On the 
other hand the Sissitonwans and Ihanktonwans allege, 
that as they live on the great water-shed of this part of 
the continent, from which the streams run northward and 
eastwai'd and southward and westward, they must be 
about the center of the earth ; and they urge this fact as 
entitling them to precedence. It is singular that the Ti- 
tonwans, who are much the largest band of the Dakotas, 
do not appear to claim the chief place for themselves, but 
yield to the pretensions of the Ihanktonwans whom they 
call by the name of Wiciyela,^^ which, in its meaning, 
may be regarded as about equivalent to 'They are the 
people.' 

Language. — "In the arrangement of words in a sen- 
tence, the Dakota language may be I'egarded as eminently 
primitive and natural. The sentence 'Give me bread,' a 
Dakota transposes .... 'Bread me give.' Such is the 
genius of the language, that in translating a sentence or 
verse from the Bible, it is generally necessary to com- 
mence, not at the beginning, but at the end; and such, 
too, is the common practice of their best interpreters. 
Where the person who is speaking leaves off, there they 
commence and jDronounce backwards to the beginning. 
In this way the connection of the sentences is more easilv 
retained in the mind and they are more naturally evolved. 

Counting. — "Counting is usually done by means of 
their fingers. If you ask some Dakotas how many there 
are of any thing, instead of directing their answer to your 
organs of hearing, they present it to your sight, by hold- 
ing up so many fingers. When they ha^'e gone over the 



22 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



fingers and thumbs of both hands, one is temporarily 
turned down for one ten. Eleven is ten-more-one, or more 
commonly again-one ; t^velve is again-two, and so on ; 
nineteen is the other-nine. At the end of the next ten 
another finger is turned down, and so on. Tw^enty is two 

tens, thirty is three tens, etc., Opowinge, one 

hundred, is probably derived from powinga^ to go around 
in circles .... as the fingers have all been gone over again 
for their respective tens. The Dakota word for a thous- 
and, keptopawlnge^ rn^y be formed of ake and opawittge^ 
hundreds again, having now completed the circle of their 
fingers in hundreds, and being about to cominence again. 
They have no separate word to denote any higher num- 
ber than a thousand. There is a word to designate one- 
half of any thing, but none to denote any smaller aliquot 
part. 

Counting 7'//;/c.-"The Dakotas have names for the 
natural divisions of time. Their years they ordinarily 
count by winters. A man is so many winters old, or so 
many winters have passed since such an event. When 
one is going on a journey, he does not usually say he will 
be back in so many days as we do, but in so many nights 
or sleeps. In the same way they compute distance by the 
number of nights passed in making the journey. They 
have no division of time into weeks. Their months are 
literally moons. Wi'^^ signifies moon or lunar month. 
The popular belief is that when the moon is full, a great 
number of very small mice commence nibbling one side of 
it, which they continue to do until they have eaten it all 
up. Soon after this another moon begins to grow, which 
goes on increasing until it has reached its full size only to 
share the fate of its predecessor; so that with them the 



DAYS OP' THE VOYAGEURS. 33 



new moon is really new, and not the old one re-appearing. 
To the moons they have given names, each of which refers 
to some prominent physical fact that occurs about that time 
in the year. These are the meanings : — 

January — the hard moon. 

February — the raccoon moon. 

March — the sore-eye moon. 

April — the moon in which the geese lay eggs, or the 
moon when the streams are again navigable. 

May — the planting moon. 

June — the moon when the strawberries arc red. 

July — the moon when the choke cherries are ripe, or 

when the geese shed their feathers- 
August — the harvest moon, 

September — the moon when the rice is laid up to dry. 

October — the drying rice moon. 

November — the deer breeding moon. 

December — the moon when the deer shed their horns. 

" Five moons are usually counted to the ^vinter, and five 
to the summer, leaving only one each to the spring and 
autumn ; but this distinction is not closely adhered to. 
The Dakotas often have very warm debates, especially to- 
ward the close of the winter, about what moon it is. 
The raccoons do not always make their appearance at the 
same time every winter ; and the causes which produce 
sore eyes are not developed at jorecisely the same time in 
each successive spring. All these variations make room 

for strong arguments in a Dakota tent But the 

main reason for their frequent difference of opinion in re- 
gard to this matter, viz., that twelve lunations do not 
bring them to the point from which they commenced 
counting, never appears to have suggested itself. In 



24 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



order to make their moons correspond with the seasons, 
they are obHged to pass over one every few years. 

Poetry. — " The Dakotas can hardly be said to know 
any thing about jDoetrv. A few words make a long song, 
for the Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi is only now and then interrupted by 
the enunciation of the words. Sometimes their war songs 
^re so highly figurative that their meaning is just the op- 
posite of what the expression used v^^ould naturally con- 
vey. To the young man who has acted very bravely, bv 
killing an enemy and taking his scalp, they say, 'Friend, 
thou art a fool, thou hast let the Ojibwas strike thee.' 
This is understood to be the highest form of eulogy. 

Sacred Language. — " The Dakota conjurer, the war- 
prophet, and the dreamer experience the same need that 
is felt by more elaborate performers among other nations, 
of a language which is unintelligible to the common 
people, for the purpose of impressing upon them the idea 
of their superiority. Their dreams, according to their 
own account, are revelations made from the spirit world, 
and their prophetic ^•isions are what they saw and knew 
in a former state of existence. It is, then, only natural 
that their dreams and visions should be clothed in words 
manv of which the multitude do not understand. The 
sacred language is not very extensive, since the use of a 
few unintelligible words suffices to make a whole speech 
incomprehensible. It may be said to consist first, in em- 
ploying words as the names of things which seem to have 
been introduced from other Indian languages ; as, ttide., 
water ; pazo, wood ; etc. In the second place, it consists 
in employing descriptive expressions, instead of the ordi- 
nary names of things ; as in calling a man a biped, and 
the wolf a quadruped. And thirdly, words \vhich are 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 25 



common in the language are used far out of their ordinary 
signification ; as, hepan^ the second child, if a boy, is used 
to designate the otter. When the Dakota braves ask a 
white man for an ox or cow, they generally call it a dog ; 
and when a sachem begs a horse from a white chief, he 
does it under the designation of moccasins. This is the 
source of many of the figures of speech in Indian oratory ; 
but they are sometimes too obscure to be beautiful. 

Religion. — " The Dakotas have, indeed, 'gods many' 
— their imaginations have peopled both the visible and 
invisible world with mysterious or spiritual beings, who 
are continually exerting themselves in reference to the 
human family, either for weal or woe. These spiritual 
existences inhabit every thing, and, consequently, almost 
every thing is an object of worship. On the same oc- 
casion, a Dakota dances in religious homage to the sun 
and moon, and spreads out his hands in prayer to a painted 
stone ; and he finds it necessary to offer sacrifices more 
frequently to the Bad-spirit than to the Great-spirit. He 
has his god of the north and god of the south, his god of 
the woods and god of the prairie, his god of the air and 
god of the waters. " 

First Explorers. — In the days of Champlain, a 
brilliant young Frenchman, Jean Nicolet, was interpreter 
for a Canadian fur company. The 4th of July, 1634, he 
departed from Three Rivers to explore the regions of the 
far west. He spent the next winter among the Indian 
tribes who then lived in the valley of the Fox River, Wis- 
consin. When summer came again, he retraced his steps 
to Canada, and was the first to give reliable information 
to the keen traders and devout missionaries concerning the 
tribes whose country lav to the westward of Lake Michi- 



26 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



gan2. One would infer from a letter written in 1640 by 
Paul Le Jeune^ that Nicolet at that time, 1634, had heard 
of the Dakotas and described them among the rest. 

In 1 64 1, a century after the disastrous adventures of De 
Soto on the lower Mississippi, Jourges'* and Raymbault,^ 
after a perilous lake voyage, reached Sault Ste. Marie,^ 
and learned of a great nation dwelling eighteen days' jour- 
ney to the westward near the head waters of a large river. 

It was not long before fabulous stories were carried 
back to France of the great wealth to be acquired in the 
far northwest. Green Bay was said to be only nine days 
journey from the sea separating China from America. 
Fired by these tales, an expedition was fitted out at 
Quebec^ in 1656 ; but, attacked by the Iroquois,^ it never 
reached its destination. The killed included Father Gar- 
reau9, who moved by compassion for the Nadouessioux^o^ 
or Dakotas, had volunteered to establish a mission among 
them. 

(xroselliers and Radisson. — ^ledard Chouarti, a 

native of Meaux^, and Pierre D'Esprit,3 a native of St. 
Mario*, the former better known as the Sieur Grosclliers,^ 
the latter as the Sieur Radisson^, visited the region of 
Green Bay in June, 165S. There were twenty-nine 
Frenchmen and six Indians in the party. They went to 
vSault Ste. Marie in October, 1659, and spent the winter 
trading with the Indians, but returned to Green Bay in the 
spring, and exploring the country southward, found a 
large river. This, doubtless, was the Wisconsin. The 
month of August saw them in Canada,'^' and the reports 
they gave intensified the old desire to know something of 
the country near and beyond Lake Superior. 

Not many weeks elapsed before they again turned their 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS, 2^ 

faces toward the west, taking with them the pious Father 
Rene Menard^. Leaving him at Keweenaw Bay, they 
passed beyond the point of that name by way of Portage 
River, and in about six days came to a long narrow point 
jutting into the lake. This is now called La Pointe. Here 
they entered Chegoimegon Bay9, at whose opposite ex- 
tremities the towns Ashland and Bayfield are to-day 
situated. At the lower end of the bay, they erected a 
rude triiding post, the first dwelling of white men on the 
shores of Lake Superior, It was built of logs, in the 
form of a triangle with its base toward the lake. On 
that side the door was situated, enabling them in case of 
necessity to retreat to their boats. In the centre stood the 
fire-place, and in one of the angles were the inmates' 
couches. The building was entirely girt by branches of 
trees set in the ground, and to these were attached a con- 
tinuous string of bells which would always ring when an 
intruder pushed aside the branches, and so warn the in- 
mates of danger. 

Soon they began to visit the neighboring tribes, and in 
the spring came to an encampment of Dakotas who be- 
longed to the Tetanga^o or Buffalo band. They went 
with these Indians seven days' journey to their summer 
lodges on the prairie, some distance southward from their 
winter homes in the northern woods. This was in Min- 
nesota. The Frenchmen remained six weeks. After re- 
turning to their post, they made explorations in other 
directions. As a result they found Isle Royal^ and its 
copper mines, and learned of a chain of lakes far to the 
northward, which, however, they did not see. This, in 
brief, is the account given by early authorities of the first 



28 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



white men who explored the shores of Lake Superior and 
entered Minnesota. 

It is worthy of mention that this same Groselliers after- 
ward deeply interested Prince Ruperti^ and the English 
men of science in a project for finding a northwest pas- 
sage. The outcome of his voyage to Hudson Bay in the 
Nonesuch was the founding of the old Hudson Bay Com- 
pany in 1670. 

Rene Menard.— Not discouraged by Garreau's un- 
happy fate, the heroic Rene Menard, his hair already 
whitened by the frosts of age, still further courted the 
dangers of an unknown land. About 1650, the Iroquois 
expelled the Huronsi from New York, and at this time 
were pushing them farther into the remote west. In 
1661, according to Nicholas Perrot^, Menard with only 
one companion, a faithful Frenchman, followed the trail 
of a band of these fleeing Hurons from Lake Michigan 
to a point on the Mississippi above the Black River^. He 
then crossed the former stream in the wake of the Indians, 
and thus floated his canoe upon its waters many j^ears be- 
fore the authenticated explorations of Marquette,* to whom 
has hitherto been given the honor of discovering its upper 
course. 

IMenard, too, finally perished by the way, and the 
Dakotas and other tribes, all unconscious of the struggles 
jDut forth in their behalf, still continued in the supersti- 
tions of their fathers. His cassock and breviary, found in 
a camp of the natives, were the only relics of his mel- 
ancholy fate. 

Menard's example, however, was not without effect ; in 
1665, Father Claude Allouez^, burning with zeal, came to 
Lake Superior with a returning party of traders and 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 



Indians. He established the Mission of the Holy 
Spirit at La Pointe. There he met not only Hurons and 
Ojibwas but the Dakotas, whose country thenceforth was 
to become memorable in history. 

The Fur Traders. — The advance guards of civiliza- 
tion in the Northwest were the fur traders. France 
granted twenty-five licenses annually to military ofiicers 
and descendants of the nobility, allowing them the ex- 
clusive pinvilege of trading with the natives of her Amer- 
ican possessions. The holders of these licenses, when 
they did not sell them, entrusted the direct supervision of 
the fur trade to their agents, who, in turn, employed the 
Canadian boatmen to navigate the large sti'eams and their 
tributaries in search of pelts. These boatmen constituted 
that daring class of men known as the coureurs des bois^ 
or voyageurs.^ Undaunted by the power of the elements 
and the many additional j^erils of boundless prairies and 
primeval forests, they forced their birch canoes and 
bateaux^ up every stream to the remotest Indian villages, 
bearing with them, as mediums of exchange, the few 
things most prized by the natives. A few years of this 
wild life not only imbued them with something of the 
free and impetuous spirit of the Indian, but often led them 
to unite themselves to the latter by the ties of marriage. The 
offspring of such alliances, called the bois brule'^^ were 
numerous. The blood of two races flowing in their veins 
seemed to meet like contending streams of civilization and 
barbarism. In them the higher race found its degrada- 
tion, but the lower was not raised to a more exalted posi- 
tion. Thus, as a class, the bois bride became one of the 
most discordant elements in the history of the settlements. 

Nicholas Perrot. — One of the first explorers of Minne- 



30 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



seta of whom we have definite record was NicholasPerrot, 
who, while in the employ of the Jesuits,! had become quite 
familiar with the languages of various tribes of Indians. 
The French authorities, recognizing his indomitable energy 
and courage, sent him to summon the tribes to meet at Sault 
Ste.Marie. This mission he performed with wonderful 
expedition. In the meantime, Talon,2 Intendant^ of Can- 
ada, had dispatched St. Lusson to search for copper and 
other mines in the country adjacent to Lake Superior, and 
to take possession, in the name of France, of all the regions 
through which he should pass. The assembling of the 
tribes occurred in May, 1671, and St. Lusson,* Perrot, 
Father Allouez, the celebrated explorer Joliet, 5 and many 
other noted personages w^ere present. The French did all 
within their power to heighten the brilliancy and pomp 
of the attendant ceremonies. Deeply impressed by so much 
dignity and sjDlendor, the Indians entei'ed into a solemn com- 
pact relative to trade and other matters pertaining to the 
v^elfare of the two races. Perrot was free after this to 
prosecute his explorations at will, and visited the Nadou- 
essioux and other remote tribes. Thus he opened and 
made clear the way for those who were destined to follow. 
Du Lutll. — Daniel Greysolon DuLuthi was born at St. 
Germain en Laye^ near Paris, or, according to some 
authorities, at Lyons. He was at one time a soldier, and 
states in his Avritings that he made several voyages to New 
France.3 Determined to open communications* between 
the settlements of Canada and the Nadouessioux, an under- 
taking which up to this time had been unsuccessful, we 
find him struggling bravely amid the dangers of a strange 
country. Having previously established a post at the 
Kamenistagoia,5 north of Lake Superior, he at length 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEUKS. 3I 

entered Minnesota, in all probability ascending the St. 
Louis^ river. Of his journey he speaks as follows: — 

"On the 3d of July, 1679, I had the honor to plant His 
Majesty's arms''^ in the great village of the Nadouessioux, 
called Izatys,^ where never had a Frenchman been, no 
more than at the Sangaskitons and Houetbatons^ distant six 
score leagues from the former, where I also planted His 
Majesty's arms in the same year, 1679. 

On the 15th of September, having given the Assiniboines 
as well as all the other northern nations a rendezvous at 
the extremity of Lake Superior, to induce them to make 
peace with the Nadouessioux, their common enemy, they 
were all there, and I was hajDj^y enough to gain their 
esteem and friendship to imite them together." 

At this time also, he visited Mille Lacs.^'^ Not satisfied, 
however, with what he had thus far accomplished, Du 
Luth, accompanied by an Indian guide and four French- 
men, ascended the Bois Brule^^ river to its source, and 
made a portage to the head \vaters of the St. Croix,i2 
which he descended to its junction with the Mississippi. 
There he learned of Father Hennepin's imprisonment 
among the Dakotas, and succeeded in securing his release. 

DuLuth was accused both by LaSalle and DuChesneau,i3 
Intendanti'i of Justice, of having engaged in the fur trade 
in connivance with Count Frontenac^s then governor of 
Canada; for to trade without a license was contrary to the 
orders of the French king. LaSalle also claimed that 
the honor of the first explorations in the land of the Dakotas 
belonged to Hennepin and Michael Accault; but it must be 
remembered that he was in some measure the rival of 
the man whose name he sougfht to tarnish. DuLuth died 



32 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



in the winter of 1709-10 at Ft. Frontenac, now Kingston, 
Ontario. 

Hennepin. — Among the most noted of the early explo- 
rers was Louis Hennepin, a priest of the Recollect order 
of Franciscani friars. He was born at Ath^ In the Nether- 
lands, and seemed even in his earlier years to possess 
that romantic and adventurous spirit which afterwards 
ruled his life. At one time we find him at Artois,3 to 
which place he had been ordered by his superiors; again, 
at Dunkirk-i and Calais,^ where he led the life of a mendi- 
cant, and spent his days in the company of rude sailors 
who recounted to him their strange adventures in other 
lands. Inflamed by their stories, he harbored ambitious 
desires hardly in accord with his priestly profession, and 
obeyed with alacrity an order commanding him to set sail 
for Canada. 

Hennepin embarked on the vessel that carried the 
Sieur Robert Chevalier de La Salle,^ a native of Rouen,' 
who under the patronage of Seignelay,^ the French 
minister of marine, was about to seek a discoverer's wealth 
and fame. A common impulse caused them for a time 
to unite their fortunes. We find Hennepin therefore 
spending the winter of 1678 at Niagara, where La Salle's 
workmen were constructing a sixty-ton bark called the 
Griffin, and embarking in company with him and his de- 
pendents August 7th, 1679. '^^"^^ expedition reached Green 
Bay on the 2d of September, after a stormy and dangerous 
voyage. Here leaving the vessel, they coasted in bark 
canoes along the shores of Lake Michigan, and in due time 
ascended the St. Joseph^ river. From this they made a 
portage to the Kankakee,io and floated down to the site of 
Peorlaii on the Illinois. 



DAYS OF THK VOYAGEURS. 33 

Disheartened by the fruitless toil he had undergone not 
less than by gloomy financial reports from Canada, La 
Salle named the fort which he built at this place, Creve- 
cceur^"^ or Heart-break. This was in January i6So; and 
the following month he chose Michael Accault,i3 Henne- 
pin, and Picard du Gayi'* to explore the upper Mississippi. 
Hennepin's ardor had not been cooled by the hardships 
already endured, and with his companions he bade the 
fated La Salle a hopeful farewell. So in March these 
three bold voyageurs began the first European ascent of 
that noble stream which, in the far future, was to become 
one of the world's great arteries of communication, throb- 
bing in response to the heart beats of the hurrying ships 
of commerce. 

On the nth of April, they were taken captive by a 
party of Mdewakantonwans,!^ one of the four bands of 
the Santees. After speaking of the Black river, Henne- 
pin continues as follows: — 

"Thirty leagues higher up you find the Lake of Tears,!** 
which we so named because some of the Indians who 
had taken us, wishing to kill us, wept the whole night, 
to induce the others to consent to our death. Forty 
leagues up is a river full of rapids^', by which striking 
northwest, you can proceed toward Lake Conde.is Con- 
tinuing to ascend ten or twelve leagues more, the naviga- 
tion is interrupted by a cataract which I called the Falls 
of St. Anthony of Padua,i9 in gratitude for the favor 
done me by the Almighty, through the intercession of 
that great saint whom we had chosen patron and protector 
of all our enterprises. Having arrived on the nineteenth 
day of navigation, five leagues below St. Anthony's Falls, 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 35 



the Indians landed us in a bay, broke our canoe to pieces, 
and secreted their own in the reeds. " 

The phice mentioned is sujDposed to be the one opposite 
Red Rock^o a few miles below St. Paul, where the Indian 
village of Kaposia^i afterwards stood. Thence they jour- 
neyed by trail to Mille Lacs. Hennepin and his com- 
panions were prostrated by fatigue caused by the hard- 
ships of this last journey made more unbearable by 
cruel treatment. Carried off to different villages, and thus 
compelled to endure a prolonged period of separation, 
their misery was complete. The following incident of 
Hennepin's captivity, taken from his journal, shows how 
vague a notion of American topography was possessed by 
the Europeans of that day: — 

" During my stay among the Indians, there arrived four 
savages, who said they were come alone five hundred 
leagues from the west, and had been four months upon 
the way. They assured us there was no such place as the 
Straits of Anian,22 and that they had traveled without 
resting, except to sleep, and had not seen or passed over 
any great lake, by which phrase they always mean a sea. 
They further assured us there were very few forests in 
the countries through which they passed. All these 
things make it appear that thei-e is no such place as the 
Straits Anian, as we usually see them set down on maps. 
And whatever efforts have been made for many years 
past by the English and Dutch to find a passage to the 
Frozen Sea, they have not yet been able to effect it; but 
by the help of my discovery, and the assistance of God, I 
doubt not but a passage may still be found, and that an 
easy one, too. For example, we may be transported into 
the Pacific Sea by rivers which are large and capable of 



36 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



carrying large vessels, and from thence it is very easy to 
go to China and JajDan without ci'ossing the equinoctial 
line, and, in all probability, Japan is on the same continent 
as America. " 

Thus did Hennepin in his vanity magnify the impor- 
tance of his discoveries, or, at all events, allow his judg- 
ment to drift away in the current of his desires. 

The Indians were about to start on a hunting expedition 
at this time, and informed by Hennepin that he expected a 
relief party from La Salle to meet him at the Wisconsin 
they were persuaded by the hope of gain to journey there. 
They descended Rum river, called by Hennepin the St. 
Francis,23 and camped at its mouth. Here they nearly 
perished of famine, and yielding to his earnest solicitations 
they allowed him to depart. In July, 1680, he came to 
the Falls of St. Anthony, which he then saw probably for 
the first time, and named as already described in his account 
of the Mississippi. Continuing his journey to the vicinity 
of the Black river, he was suddenly overtaken by the 
Indians whom he had left far to the northward. There, 
too, he was found by Du Luth, who claims to have freed 
him from the restraints of captivity, although Hennejoin 
himself does not acknowledge the fact. Be that as it may, 
in Du Luth's company he ascended once more to the Santee 
villages in the month of August, but in September returned 
again to the mouth of the Wisconsin, and proceeded to 
Gi-een Bay by way of that river and the Fox. We next 
hear of him in Europe, where he wrote some books relating 
his discoveries in Minnesota, and where, after a few years, 
he closed his strange career. 

Hennepin's experience, in conjunction with that of Gar- 
reau, Menard and others, showed conclusively that it was 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 37 



not the adherents of the church appeahng to the spiritual 
side of the Indian's character who were to pave the way 
for civiUzation to enter the prairies and woods of iMinne- 
sota, but that the traders, such as Perrot, appealing to their 
selfish desires were to be, as elsewhere stated, the potent 
forerunners of the new era. 

Ft. St. Alltoilie. — In the spring of 16S5, Nicholas Per- 
rot was commissioned Commandanti of the West by De 
La Barre,2 governor of Canada. With a small party of 
Frenchmen, he spent the following winter above the Black 
River in the vicinity of Trempeleau,^ and traded with the 
Indians of the Minnesota region. When the warm spring 
months of i6S6 had come, he seems to have ascended the 
Mississippi and erected Ft. St. Antoine* on the Wisconsin 
side above the entrance of the Chippewa. Shortly after 
this he was called eastward by Denonville,5 the new gov- 
ernor of Canada, for the purpose of assembling at Niagara 
the Miamis^ and other tribes. From this expedition he 
returned just in time to save the fort from destruction at 
the hands of the Foxes^ and their allies, who were bent on 
going to war with the Sioux. In 16S7, he was again ab- 
sent, fighting the Senecas^ of New York; and this time the 
Sioux endeavored to pillage the fort. However, he was 
warmly received by them on his return, and informed that 
the nation as a whole had not sanctioned the attack. 

Now it was that the famous Proces-Verbal,^ the first 
ofiicial document relating to Minnesota, was drawn up and 
signed. It is couched in intricate legal terms; yet, withal, 
is somewhat unique. In the beginning it recites the origin 
and limits of Perrot's authority; then tells how he and his 
companions entered the country; enumerates the tribes 
encountered on the banks of the upper Mississippi and its 



38 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



branches, the Wisconsin, St. Croix, and St. Pierre ;io takes 
possession of the whole reigon in the name of the king; 

°| and finally, names 
many of its own wit- 
nesses, among whom 
are Le Sueuriiand the 
Reverend F a t li c r 
MaresfiSof the Society 
of Jesus.13 

La Hontaii's Long 

River. — In the winter 
of 16SS-S9, Baron La 
Hontan, a young Gas- 
con,! made a voyage 




NEAK LAKE CITY. I.AKF, PKI'l X. MAIDEN KOCK. 

up a stream which he called Long River. By different 
authorities it has been likened to the Minnesota, the Cannon, 
and the Root, with some evidence strongly in favor of 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 



39 



the latter stream. Yet it seems strange that he should have 
been able to ascend it by boat in January. 

La Hontan's story of what he saw is a fabulous account 
of great chiefs and powerful tribes. He found, so he says, 
some strange captives at one of the villages. They wore 
clothing and had long hair and beards. At first he thought 
they were Spaniards. They told him their nation dwelt 
in a land one hundred and fifty leagues away; that its 
principal river emptied into a great salt lake; that the 
mouth of this river was two leagues broad ; and that its 
banks were adorned by six noble cities surrounded by stone 
walls. 

The historians and geographers of Europe for a long 
time credited La Hontan's story, and gave his Long River 
a place on their charts. It will be remembered that Hen- 
nepin conceived the idea of finding a large river by means 
of which Europeans would be able to enter the western 
ocean; whether on account of his views and La Hontan's 
story or not, it is certain that for generations after, the hope 
of discovering such a stream remained universal. 

Ft. Le Slieiir. — In 1693, Pierre Le Sueur, one of the 
witnesses of the Proces-Verbal, was sent to La Pointe 
charged with the important undertaking of keej^ing open 
the commtniication with the Sioux by way of the Bois 
Brule and St. Croix rivers; for at this time the Foxes and 
Mascoutins of the Wisconsin valley were so hostile that it 
v\^as found impossible to transport goods by that route to 
the upper MississipjDi. For the better carrying out of his 
pin-pose, as well as to place a barrier between the con- 
stantly warring Sioux and Ojibwas, LeSueur established a 
post on one of the islands not far from the present town of 
Red Wing. Charlevoix,! the Jesuit historian, describes it 



40 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



as a beautiful prarie island which one encounters above the 
head of Lake Pepin in ascending the stream, and which 
the French Canadians made the center of their trade in 
these western regions so well fitted for the pursuit of the 
chase. He says it is named Isle Pelee2 because of its tree- 
less condition — the word pelee being the French for bald. 
All the e\idences yet brought to light indicate that this was 
the first^ French establishment on what is now the soil of 
Minnesota. 

Ft. L' Hllillier. — After some years of misfortune, dur- 
ing which he suffered a period of captivity in England and 
was subsequently hindered in carrying out his projects by 
Frontenac, we find LeSueur at the court of France meet- 
ing with favor on the part of the king and the minister of 
marine. At this juncture D'Iberville,i his wife's cousin, 
was appointed the first governor of Louisiana, and in him 
he found a sympathetic patron. Acting also under the 
direct orders of the king, D' Iberville transported LeSueur 
with his boatmen, laborers, and munitions to the Bay of 
Biloxi.2 In the month of April of the year 1700, with a 
canoe, a felucca, and about thirty men, he began his mem- 
orable and eventful voyage. The frosty days of Septem- 
ber came ere he entered the St. Pierre. Penicaut,^ one of 
the party, thus speaks of their subsequnt movements: — 

" We took our route up the St. Pierre, and ascended it 
twent}' leagues, where we found another river falling into 
it, which we entered. We called this Green River* because 
it was of that color by reason of an earth which loos- 
ening itself from the copper mine becomes dissolved 
in the water. A league up this river we found a jDoint 
of land a quarter of a league distant from the woods, 
and it was upon this point^ M. LeSueur resolved to build 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 4 1 



his fort, because w^e could not go anv higher on account of 
the ice, it being the last of September. Half of our peo- 
ple ^vent hunting while the others worked on the fort. 
We killed four hundred buffaloes, ^vhich \vere our provis- 
ions for the winter, and which we placed upon scaffolds in 
our fort after having skinned, cleaned, and quartered them. 
We also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to keep 
our goods. After having drawn up our shallop within 
the enclosure of the fort, we spent the winter in our cab- 
ins. When spring came w^e vs^ent to work in the copper 
mine. This mine is situated at the beginning of a long 
mountain, which is upon the bank of the river, so that 
boats can go right into the mouth of the mine itself. This 
was the beginning of April of the year 1701. We took 
with us twelve laborers and four hunters. The mine was 
situated three quarters of a league from our post. We 
took from it in twenty days more than twenty thousand 
pounds, of which we selected four thousand pounds of the 
finest, which M. Le Sueur, who was a very good judge of 
it, had carried to the fort, and which has since been sent 
to France, though I have not learned the result." 

Le Sueur named the fort L' Huillier^ in honor of the 
Farmer General of Paris. It was situated, according to 
the discription, near the mouth of the St. Remi."? In May, 
Le Sueur, having loaded the boats ^vith furs obtained in 
trade with the Indians, set out on his return to Ft. Biloxi. 
]M. D' EvaqueS and twelve men were left in charge of the 
post, and Le vSueur promised to send them supplies from 
the countrv of the Illinois.^ He endeavored to do so, but 
the boat in which they were carried sunk near the lead 
regions of the Mississippi. Consequently, the little garri- 
son was soon put to great straits, and to add to their 



42 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



troubles they were attacked by the Foxes and Mascoutins,!'^ 
who killed three of their number while at work near the 
post. Thus was M. D' Evaque compelled to abandon it, 
and hastening southward with those who survived, he 
reached Ft. Biloxi in March, 1703. Such is the history of 
the second French establishment; and it shows plainly how 
difficult was the task of gaining a permanent foot-hold in 
the far northwest. 

Ft.BeauliarUOis. — D' Iberville,in a memorial addressed 
to the French government, says the Sioux are too far re- 
moved for trade while they remain in their own country, 
and suggests a plan for their removal to the Missouri. He 
also mentions the tendency of the voyageurs to become 
roaming hunters and the interference of Canadian traders 
with those of Louisiana as great difficulties in the way of 
securing a stable system of commerce between the tribes 
and the latter colonv. However, the French government 
heeded neither the ad^'ice of D' Iberville nor the schemes 
of others; but, discouraged by its ill success, abolished the 
system of licenses, and withdrew its garrisons from all the 
posts \vest of IMackinaw.i This condition of affairs existed 
for nearly twenty years; but a disturbing factor in the 
problem of colonization was soon to restore the old order 
of things. The interest of the Canadians, it is true, had 
been somewhat revived in 17 17 by the attempt of Vau- 
dreuil2 and La Xoue^ to find a northwest passage to the 
Pacific; but it became fully aroused only when it was dis- 
covered that the English were making every effort to 
extend their domain. A French document of the day thus 
speaks in reference to the matter: — 

"It is more and more obvious that the English are 
endeavoring to interpolate among all the Indian nations, 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 43 

and to attach them to themselves. They entertain con- 
stantly the idea of becoming masters of North America, 
persuaded that the European nation which will be possessor 
of that section, will, in course of time, be masters of all, 
because it is thei'e alone that men live in health and have 
strong, robust children." 

Thus it came to pass that the song of the Canadian 
boatman was heard again on the streams and lakes of 
Minnesota, and the fathers of the mission once more per- 
formed their sacred ministrations within its borders. But 
priest and voyageur were not left to battle alone; for the 
French authorities instituted means for the re-establishment 
of the deserted posts and the building of new ones. 

Linctot,-^ the commander at La Pointe, made presents to 
the Dakotas, and promised to send priests^ among them. 
It was his purpose also to break the alliance between the 
Foxes and Dakotas, and to make peace between the latter 
and the Ojil^was. The 17th of September, 1727, as it 
^vere in answer to his promise, a party of traders and two 
priests, Fathers Guignas^ and De Gonor,'' arrived opposite 
Maiden Rock^ at the peninsula called Pointe au Sable.^ 
Capt. Rene De Boucher,io notorious because of his mis- 
deeds at the sacking of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was the 
commander. They immediately built a fort on the penin- 
sula. The enclosure, a hundred feet square, was protected 
by a high stockade. Within were three large buildings 
designed, it is thought, for a chaj^el, store, and quarters. 
Besides these, there "were two bastions surrounded by pick- 
ets. The fort was called BeauharnoisH in honor of the 
governor of Canada; and the mission was consecrated to 
St. Michael the Archansfel. 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 45 



As may be inferred from what has ah-eady been said, 
the purposes to be subserved by this post were prob- 
ably four-fold: it would serve as a center of trade and a 
starting point for the missionaries ; it would help to check- 
mate the encroachments of the English; it would cut off 
the retreat of the Foxes to the country of the Dakotas 
should the French see fit to approach the former nation 
from the eastward, as they afterwards did, in order to 
carry on a war of extermination provoked by unabated 
hostility; and, finally, it would form the initial post of a 
number to be built as bases of supplies in the endeavor to 
find a northwest passage, that alluring dream of the early 
navigators which at this day had lost none of its first vivid- 
ness. 

In the year 1728, the fort was flooded, and the garrison 
compelled to camp out. The hostility of the Indians in- 
creased, and in sheer necessity the French deserted it alto- 
gether. It was afterwai-ds rebuilt above the high-water 
line. Subsequent to the confirming of peace with the 
Foxes, the post was commanded by Capt. Legardeur St. 
Pierrei2 to whom Washington made the memorable ofiicial 
visit at Ft. Le Boeufis on the eve of the French and Indian 
war. This was about 1736. Ten years later the post was 
still occupied by traders, but Carver ascending Lake Pepin 
in 1766 beheld nothing but a crumbling ruin. 

The Northwest Passage.— At this stage of events, a 

gallant Canadian soldier, Verandriei by name, matured a 
plan for forcing a way to the Pacific. After earnest solic- 
itation Gov. Beauharnois espoused his cause, and fitted out 
an expedition. It left Montreal in 1731 under the leader- 
ship of Verandrie's three eldest sons and his nephew De 
Jemeraye,2 who had been one of the garrison at Ft. Beau- 



/j.6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



liarnois in 1728. They entered the country by way of 
Piofeon River, and built Ft. St. Pierre near the southwest 
hore of Rainy Lake. The next year another post was 
built at the western extremity of the Lake of the Woods. 
In 1736, a party of twenty-one belonging to the expedition 
were encamped on an island of the lake last mentioned, 
when they were surprised by the Dakotas and massacred. 
The youngest of the Verandric brothers was one of the 
party. But far from being overwhelmed by their many 
misfortunes, the other brave explorers continued to push on. 
Ft. La Reine^ was built at the Assiniboine in 173S. Ascend- 
ing that river to the Mouse, they traversed the country to 
the Missouri, reaching the vicinity of the Yellowstone in 
1742. The following year, the eldest Verandrie brother 
scaled the Rocky Mountains. Further progress was pre- 
vented by the warfare going on between the Arcs and 
Snakes; the expedition therefoi-e returned to the Lake of 
the Woods. 

Beauharnois, through the misrepresentations of others, 
became prejudiced against Verandrie, the father, and with- 
drew all further patronage; but Gallissonniere,* the suc- 
ceeding governor of Canada, who was a man of science, 
planned an expedition to go out in 1750 with Verandrie as 
its leader. Before that time the latter died, and the kind- 
hearted Gallissonniere w^as superseded by the selfish Jon- 
quiere,5 who ignored the claims of Verandrie's sons to 
recognition, and chose LamarqueDe Marin^ and Lagardeur 
St. Pierre as leaders of two expeditions, the former to go 
by way of the Missouri, the latter by the Saskatchewan"^ in, 
search of a northwest passage. Some of St. Pierre's men 
forced their way to the Rocky Moimtains and built Ft. 
Jonqujere in 1752; but the trump of war called them to 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 47 

more stirring scenes, and the existence of the great lake of 
the Indian's fable, which seemed to the explorer's burning 
fancy to lie just beyond the mountains, still lay shrouded 
in mystery. 

But all these efforts were effective in another direction: 
they dispelled in part the mists of ignorance which had 
hung so long over the Minnesota region, and gave to the 
French and English a somewhat adequate conception of 
the boundless resources of that natural empire of which it 
formed a part. 

French and English Supremacies.— In spite of the 

counteracting efforts of the French, the English had sufti- 
cient influence to in a certain measure disaffect the Indians; 
but through the strenuous endeavors of the wise 3t, Pierre 
and other officers stationed in the west, they were once 
more won over to the French alliance in the years subse- 
quent to 1746 and previous to the breaking out of the 
French and Indian war. In the year 1 761, when the French 
power in America was fast waning, the English occupied 
the fort at Green Bay ; and in the year 1763, after the treaty of 
Versailles,! they came into full possession of all the western 
posts. In March of that year, a small party of Dakotas 
came to Green Bay offering friendship to the garrison. 
The French, however, by reason of their firm hold on the 
tribes acquired through the religious and commercial rela- 
tions of a century, which were further strengthened by 
frequent intermarriages, kept the English for many j^ears 
from gaining a permanent foot-hold. This being true, and 
because the latter could not pi-ofitably compete with the for- 
mer in trade, the English government sought to establish 
no posts west of Mackinaw. 

Carver's Expedition.^onathan Carver, a native of 



4S HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Connecticut, who for many years had been an officer of 
the English army of America, at the close of the French 
and Indian war devised a plan for exploring the North- 
west. Assisted by Major Rogers, commandant at ISIacki- 
naw, he started from Green Bay with a party of French 
and English traders in September 1766. Thence, by way 
of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, he came to Prairie Du 
Chien,i at this time the great central fur mart of the west. 
Accompanied only by a Canadian boatman and a Mo- 
hawk2 Indian, he ascended the Mississippi. He discovered 
on the way some of those ancient mounds which since his 
day have been objects of patient research and speculation 
on the part of archceologists the world over, and which 
have thrown some light on the character of the prehistoric 
races of America. 

Carver speaks of the Dakotas as the River Bands, their 
villages at this time being near the Mississippi. This 
shows conckisively the nomadic character of that nation; 
for, it will be remembered that in the days of Hennepin 
and the earlier voyageurs they dw^elt far to the north and 
west. 

Near the site of St. Paul, Carver found a strange sand- 
stone cave which still bears his name. He describes it in 
exaggerated terms as a place of awful depths whose outer 
walls were covered with strange characters and picto- 
graphs. He made a pilgrimage to St. Anthony Falls in 
company with a Winnebago chief, and these too he pic- 
tured in the glowing colors of his quick imagination. Re- 
turning to the mouth of the St. Pierre, which he had 
previously noticed, he ascended that stream for a long 
distance, bearing with him the British flag. Fie even 
claims to have penetrated the interior two hundred miles. 




oabver's cave, looking in. 



FOUNTAIN CAVE, LOOKING OUT. 



50 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



This, if he followed the course of the stream, would have 
brought him to the vicinity of Lac qui Parle. Greatly 
impressed by the resources of the country and its water 
routes, he entertained schemes for its settlement, and be- 
lieved also that a water I'oute to China and the East Indies 
could be found by way of the St. Pierre. Of this scheme 
Neill gives the following account: — 

"Carver having returned to England, interested Whit- 
worth, a member of Parliament, in the Northern route. 
Had not the American Revolution commenced, they pro- 
posed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded 
up the Minnesota, until they had found, as they supposed 
they would, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence 
journeying over the summit of lands, until they came to a 
river which they called the Oregon, they expected to de- 
scend to the Pacific." 

Carver's heirs^ strove to establish their rights to a large 
tract of country in the vicinity of St. Anthony's Falls, 
basing their claims upon a supposed transfer made to him, 
by two Dakota chiefs, at the great cave above mentioned; 
but neither the English government, while eastern Minne- 
sota remained in the possession of the crown, nor that of 
the United States, when it had established its supremacy, 
would recognize the validity of so vague a claim as this 
proved to be. 

Indian Wars. — As previously stated, the Ojibwas were 
the traditional enemies of the Dakotas. For generations 
they had waged with one another a ceaseless and deadly 
warfare of varying results; but in the end the glory of 
Dakota prowess paled somewhat before that of their ene- 
mies. Through bloody strife, the Ojibwas gained Sandy 
Lake, their first abiding place in Minnesota, and in time a 



52 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



band of them, subsequently called the Pillagers,i estab- 
lished themselves at Leech Lake,2 where the descendants 
of the tribe remain to this day. Two fierce conflicts are 
recorded; one occurred near the mouth of the Crow Wing- 
between the 



Dakotas and 
O jib was; the 
other at the 
Dalles of the 
St. Croix be- 
tween the lat- 
ter nation and 
the allied for- 
ces of the Fox- 
es and Dako- 
tas. The Ojib- 
was were vic- 
torious in both 
engagements, 
and after the 
ojiBWA HOME. I'^st, about the 

time of the English possession, ■were never molested by the 
Foxes, and continued to maintain their position on the 
hunting grounds of the Dakotas. 

Wabaslia's Mission. — An event occurred about the 
time of the Revolution which shows clearly what changes 
had, after the advent of the fur traders, been made in the 
Indian's mode of gaining subsistence. It seems that one 
of the Mdewakantonwans murdered a trader at Mendota. 
To punish the tribe, the English cut off all trade with them 
at the beginning of winter. No longer self-reliant, they 
were in consequence driven to the verge of starvation. The 





THE FALLS OF MINNEHAHA. 



Still dissuading said Nokomis: 
"Bring not to my lodge a stranger 
From the land of the Dacotahs ! 
Very fierce are the Dacotahs, 
Often is there war between us^ 
There are feuds yet unforgotten, 
Wounds that ache and still may open!" 
Laughing answered Hiawatha : 
"For that reason, if no other, 
Would I wed the fair Dacotah, 
That our triljes might be united. 
That old feuds might be forgotten!" 
Thus departed Hiawatha 
To the land of the Dacotahs, 



To the land of handsome women; 
Striding over moor and meadow, 
Through interminaljle forests, 
Through uninterrupted silence. 
With his moccasins of magic. 
At each stride a mile he measured; 
Yet the way seem<'d long before him, 
And his heart outrun his footsteps; 
And he journeyed without resting. 
Till he heard the cataract's laughter. 
Heard the Falls of Minnehaha 
Calling to him through the silence. 



53 



— Henby W. Longfellow. 



54 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



brave chief Wabasha^ and a large party of warriors took 
the murderer and started for Canada, in order to plead 
with the English authorities for mercy and tlie restoration 
of the trading posts. Deserted by all save a few faithful 
friends, Wabasha at last reached Quebec, and offered to 
sacrifice his life for the good of his perishing subjects. 
Struck by the nobility of a character so self- forgetting, the 
English received him cordially, and granted his request 
without the offered sacrifice. 

The Northwest Company . — The Northwest Company 
of fur traders came into existence in the year 1783 ^i^tl 
established its headquarters at Montreal. Large cargoes 
of goods were purchased by it in Englandl and shipped to 
that city, from which they were taken to its western sta- 
tions for distribution. Its business was greatly multiplied 
after its reorganization in 179S. It had over forty clerks, 
fifty hiterprcters, and six hundred canoe-inen in Minnesota 
and the regions beyond, to say nothing of those just to the 
eastward. Surely a century had wrought great changes; 
at the beginning, a solitary boatman's canoe ruffled the 
surface of the stream ; at the close, whole fleets were seen, 
and in every thicket, on every plain were heard the foot- 
falls of a restless civilization that was one day destined to 
accomplish marvelous things. 

By the treaty of Paris,2 that portion of Minnesota lying 
east of the Mississippi came under the United States' su- 
premacy, but the English for several years retained their 
garrisons in the frontier forts. Even as late as 1794 the 
Northwest Company, under British protection, built a 
strongly fortified post at Sandy Lake; and during the 3^ear 
of immunity from United States interference, stipulated by 
Jay's treaty of 1796, it did not fail to erect numerous posts 



DAYS OF THE VOVAGEURS. 



55 



throughout Minnesota and to float the English colors above 
their walls, while its agents endeavored to hold the Indians 
loyal to the British rule. 




ILLUSXRAXED 



History of mimnesota, 







Territorial Changes. — The French- American posses- 
sions originally ceded to Spain in 1763 were returned to 
France in iSoo by a secret clause in the treaty of San 
Ildefonso.i The adroit Napoleon, fearing his . ability to 
hold the newly acquired domain, hard pressed as he was 
by Britian, ceded it to the Americans, who were also eager 
to withstand English encroachments. Thus, during the 
period of history upon which we are about to enter, that 
part of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi came suc- 

56 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 57 



cessively vinder the jurisdiction of Louisiana Province in the 
year 1803, Louisiana District in 1S04, Louisiana Territory 
in 1S05, Missouri Territory in 181 2, Michigan Territory in 
1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836, and Iowa Territory in 
1838; while the part lying east of the same river, secured 
to the United States, as previously stated, by the treaty of 
Paris, belonged to the Northwest Territory in 17S71 Indiana 
Territory in 1800, Illinois Territory in 1809, Michigan 
Territory in 1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836. 

Pike's Expedition. — The provisions of Jay's treaty did 
not put an end to the unlawful intrigues of the British trad- 
ers in Minnesota, and the United States authorities at last re- 
solved to take more active measures for the suppression of 
their autocratic powers. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike,i acting 
under the orders of Gen. Wilkinson^ left St. Louis on the 
7th of August, 1S05, for the triple purpose of exploring 
the upper Mississippi region, curbing the insolent spirit of 
the traders, and making treaties of friendship with the 
Indian tribes, who under the influence of such men as 
Dickson had learned to despise and ignore the authority of 
the new republic. 

Pike was only twenty-six years of age at this time, but 
a brave, energetic, ambitious officer, and withal a man of 
sterling integrity. He was accompanied by a detachment 
of only seventeen privates and three non-commissioned 
officers, but, nevertheless, turned his face resolutely toward 
the unknown dangers and hardships of a hostile wilderness. 
On the Sth of September, he made a new start from Prairie 
Du Chien, where he had obtained two batteaux and two 
additional men, who were to act as interpi-eters. Every 
day's journey was one of interest, and its events he faith- 
fully recorded. In due time La Crosse,^ Pointe au Sable, 



5i> HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Kaposia, and other places now familiar to the reader, were 
successively passed, and on the 21st of the month he en- 
camped at the mouth of the St. Pierre on the large island 
which still bears his name. 

Here Little Crow and his band from Kaposia assembled 
on the bluff now occupied by Ft. Snelling, and Pike 
entered into counsel with them on the 23d. As a result, 
the Indians ceded two tracts of land for military purposes: 
one nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix; the 
other extending nine miles along the course of the Missis- 
sippi from below the mouth of the St. Pierre to above St. 
Anthony's Falls and lateially nine miles back from either 
bank. 

September 26th, Pike resumed his upward course, and 
from that time on for many days he and his little band 
endured toils and hardships sufficient to try the sturdiest 
soldier. On the i6th of October, snow began to fall, and 
the ice w^as forming in the streams. Impeded on this ac- 
count, Pike built a block housed near the mouth of 
Swan river, and drawing up the larger boats within the 
protection of the stockade, ordered some of his soldiers into 
winter quarters under the command of the sergeant. With 
a corporal and a few privates he pushed on. Now they 
were forced to attach themselves to sleds like beasts of 
burden, and draw their canoe o\-er bleak prairies in some 
places bare of snow; anon were plunged with their effects 
into the chill waters of the river. For subsistence, they 
depended in great measure on the game taken by the way, 
and some days this was quite scarce. They occasionally 
met small parties of Indians, who informed them of the 
movements of the traders and the temper of the different 
tribes. 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 59 

Feeling that he must now be near Sandy Lake, Pike on 
the 8th of January left all his men in camp save Corporal 
Bradly, and struggled forward on foot through the long 
hours of that cold winter day. At dusk, they were still 
several miles from the lake, but did not waver until their 
eyes were rewarded by its broad expanse stretching out 
before them. Thinking they could catch the dim outlines 
of the farther shore, with renewed courage they plodded 
toward it through the deep snow that had completely ob- 
literated the trail across the ice. The glimmering lights 
of the Northwest Company's stockade soon appeared and 
cheered them on. When they reached it, they were re- 
ceived with rare hospitality by Mr. Grant the English 
trader in charge. 

Pike and his detachment marched from this place to 
Leech Lake, where he hoisted the American flag. In the 
month of February, he called together the Sauteurs^ of 
that place and Red Lake. The fruits of this council were 
threefold; the Sauteurs gave up their British flags and 
medals,^ promised to make peace with the Sioux, and al- 
lowed two of their most noted warriors to accompany 
Pike to St. Louis. 

On the 5th of March, on his downward journey. Pike 
came to the winter quarters at Swan river, and found to 
his chagrin that the sergeant had been holding high revel- 
ry, squandering the stores while he had sometimes been 
suffering through lack of necessaries. A blinding snow 
storm was raging on the nth of April when he arrived 
again at the mouth of the St. Pierre. Here he found the 
Sioux who had assembled at his request. Of the council 
he speaks in these terms: — 

"About sundown I was sent for and introduced into tlie 



6o HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



council house, where I found a great many chiefs of the 
Sussitongs,'^ Gens des Feuilles,^ and the Gens du Lac.9 
The YanctongsiOhad not yet come down. They were all 
awaiting my arrival. There were about one hundred 
lodges, or six hundred people; we were saluted on our 
crossing the river with balin as usual. The council-house 
was two large lodges capable of containing three hundred 
men. In the upper were forty chiefs, and as many pipes 
set against the poles, along side of which I had the Sau- 
teurs' pipes arranged. I then informed them, in short de- 
tail, of my transactions with the Sauteurs; but my inter- 
preters were not capable of making themselves fully un- 
derstood. The interpreters, however, informed them that 
I ^vanted some of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis; 
and that those who thought proper might descend to the 
Prairie, where we would give them more explicit informa- 
tion. They all smoked out of the Sauteurs'^ pipes, except- 
ing three." 

Pike arrived at Prairie Du Chien on the i8th of April; 
but, as hereafter seen, his nine weary months of labor 
proved to be almost fruitless in the attempt to accom- 
plish the chief objects of the expedition. 

Minnesota Indians in War of 1812. — The hospitable 

reception of Pike by the British traders of Minnesota was 
like that of the Arabs, who treat a stranger with lavish 
kindness while he remains within their tents but become 
his sworn enemies when he has departed; for in the sel- 
fishness of their hearts they feared the results of the new 
policy of trade adopted by the United States. Once more 
with subtle daring they began to win back the partly 
alienated tribes, and on the eve of hostilities between England 
and America, furnished the Indians with munitions of war. 




EXPLOBEBS, 



62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



About this time the celebrated Shawnee chief Tecum- 
sehi and his brother Elskwatawa, the Prophet, kindled 
the fires of a general Indian war, and Dickson, the British 
superintendent of the western tribes, who seemed to cher- 
ish toward the Americans a lasting and bitter hatred, spared 
no pains to fan the flame of discord. Besides Dickson, 
Askin, Renville, and Rolette were some of the traders who 
led the Dakotas and Ojibwas of Minnesota against the 
fortifications of Mackinaw in 1S12, Ft. Meigs^ in 181 3, and 
Ft. Shelby at Prairie Du Chien in 18 14. Tahamie,* of 
whom valorous deeds are recorded, and Hay-pee-dan^ were 
the only Dakotas who I'emained faithful to the Americans. 
By the treaty of Ghent,^ the Indians' wild dreams of con- 
quest were dispelled, and Little Crow, Wabasha, and other 
chiefs, eloquently upbraiding the English for treachery in 
the non-fulfillment of their golden promises, returned to 
their people disappointed and sad at heart. 

Traders and Selkirkers. — After the war of 181 2 had 

closed, American citizens supported by wise provisions of 
the government began to trade extensively in Minnesota. 
While the Dakotas and Ojibwas engaged in bloody con- 
flicts like that on the Pomme de Terrel in 18 18, seemingly 
by tacit consent they left the Americans free for a time to 
pursue their plans in peace. But it is not to be supposed 
that the spirit of the old British traders was less aggressive 
than formerly. Dickson,^ who resided at Lake Traverse 
for several years after the war, w^as one of those who still 
carried on the same secret machinations. Nor were all their 
deeds the outgrowth of political principles; for, their treat- 
ment of those near to them by the ties of race was cruel in 
the extreme. 

In the years immediately following 181 1, Lord Selkirk^ 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 63 



endeavored to establish a Scottish settlement at the mouth 
of the Assiniboine. Again and again the power of the ele- 
ments left them desolate and broken-hearted far from the 
homes of their childhood; and repeatedly the harsh emis- 
saries of the Northwest Company, as if imbued with the 
spirit of fiends rather than that of humanity, massacred 
them outright, or applied the torch to their humble habita- 
tions and compelled them to seek shelter in the wilds of 
Minnesota, where they nearly perished of hunger and cold. 
In considering their sorrows, the dispersion of the Acadi- 
ans* seems robbed of its terrors, and the pages of American 
history scarce furnish another parallel to the mournful 
annals of these unhappy colonists. But through it all they 
preserved a bearing of bravei=y, a spirit of noble sacrifice 
whose glory can never fade. 

Expedition of 181 7.— July 9th, 18 17, Stephen H. Long, 
of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, determined to ascend the 
Mississippi to St. Anthony Falls. Gov. Clark of St. 
Louis gave him a six-oared skiff in which to make the 
journey. His pai'ty consisted of a friend named Hemp- 
stead, seven soldiers, and Roquel a half-breed interpreter. 
They were accompanied by a bark canoe in which were 
Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons^ of Jonathan Carver, 
whose claims to territory they were anxious to make good. 

On the way, the party ascended Montague Trempe el 
Eau,3 which they designated as Kettle Hill, a name given 
to it on account of the peculiar shape the rocks upon its 
side appear to have \vhen viewed from a distance. Long's 
description of the scenery in its vicinity is in some partic- 
ulars fl^orid but in the main truthful, as here seen: — 

•'Hills marshaled into a variety of pleasing shapes some 
of them towering into lofty joeaks, while others present 



64 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



broad summits embellished with contours and slopes in the 
most pleasing manner; champaigns and waving valleys; 
forest lawns and parks alternating with each other; the 
humble Mississippi meandering far below and occasionally 
losing itself in numberless islands ; all these give variety and 
beauty to the picture, while rugged cliffs and stupendous 
precipices here and there present themselves as if to add 
boldness and majesty to the scene. In the midst of this beau- 
tiful scenery is situated a village of the Sioux Indians on 
an extensive lawn called the Aux Aisles* Prairie, at which 
we lay by for a short time." 

The name of the chief was Wapashaw.^ The Indians 
at the time had just finished the Bear Dance.*5 

Long speaks of a block house which commanded the 
passage of the river at Kaposia; visits Carver's Cave 
now rapidly filling with sand ; farther up enters the much 
larger Fountain Cave; and finally camps at the foot of St. 
Anthony Falls. It seems to have been his purpose to make 
a cursory survey to find grounds suitable for a fort. He 
speaks thus of the position now occupied by Ft. Snelling: — 

" A military work of considerable magnitude might be 
constructed upon the point, and might be rendered suffi- 
ciently secure by occupying the commanding height in the 
rear in a suitable manner, as the latter would control not 
only the point, but all the neighboring heights, to the full 
extent of a twelve pounder's range. The work on the 
point vs^ould be necessary to control the navigation of the 
two rivers. But without the commanding works in the 
rear, it would be liable to be greatly annoyed from a height 
situated directly opposite on the other side of the Missis- 
sippi, which is here no more than about two hundred and 
fifty yards wide. This latter height, however, would not 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



65 



be eligible for a permanent post, on account of the numer- 
ous ridges and ravines situated immediately in its rear." 

Ft. Snelling. — Alarmed by the movements of Lord 
Selkirk and the Hudson Bay Company near the northern 
border, the far-seeing Calhoun,! then secretary of war, took 
active steps toward a more permanent military occupation 
of Minnesota than had hitherto been made. Cold Water 




MBS. SNELLING. 



OOL. SNELLING. 



Cantonment2 was established at Mendota^ in 1S19, Col. 
Leaven\vorth commanding, and in September of the fol- 
lowing year the first stone of a fort was laid on what was 
then the far frontier — Prairie Du Chien, 200 miles away, 
being the objective point of all wagon trains, boat fleets, 
and the traveler in moccasins. The ^Dost was at first 
called Ft. St. Anthony, but the name was changed through 
the influence of Gen. Winfield Scott, who was there on a 



66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



visit of inspection in 1834. The following is taken from 
his report made at that time: — 

" This work, of which the war department is in the pos- 
session of a plan, reflects the greatest credit on Col. Snell- 
ing, his officers and men. The defenses and for the most 
part the public store houses, shops and quarters, being con- 
structed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as 
the post shall remain a frontier one. I wish to suggest to 
the general-in-chief, and through him to the war depart- 
ment, the propriety of calling this work Ft. Snelling, as a 
just compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it 
has been erected. The present name is foreign to all our 
associations, and besides it is geographically incorrect." 

All the romance of border history and the tragic story 
of Indian warfare cling to Snelling's time-stained walls, 
and the names of countless gallant soldiers and noble wo- 
men have become associated with its own in the sixty years 
its quaint old battlements have towered aloft in the pictur- 
esque valley, as inspiring as any Drachenfels^ by the Ger- 
man Rhine; and it stands yet, in the evening of the nine- 
teenth century, like a sentinel rehearsing in silent language 
tales of the bold voyageurs and the self-sacrificing fathers 
of the mission, who passed within range of its guns or 
rested beneath its sheltering roofs. 

The plan of the original fort seems to have been that of 
a rhomboid, one of the acute angles lying on the cliff and 
the adjacent sides cresting the banks of the Mississippi and 
Minnesota respectively. These sides were protected by 
castellated walls, terminating in a half-moon bastion at the 
angle, and that on the south or Minnesota side having its 
other extremit}^ in a polygon tower still standing. These 
walls, for the most part, and the half-moon bastion have 









XVBT BNELLING LOOKING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. 

SAME LOOKING A0BOS3 THE MINNESOTA. 




S( ItNt-^ Al FT SNFLLINtr 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 69 



lately fallen sacrifices to the spirit of change; the arched 
gateway and walls of the inner angle of the fort have also 
vanished ; but the old round tower, with its embrasured 
parapet and loop-holed M^all, remains a landmark of by- 
gone days. 

Crawford County. — Eastern Minnesota, then a part of 
Michigan Territory, was organized as Crawford^ county 
in 1819. The officers of the county were a chief justice, 
two associate justices of the county court, a judge of pro- 
bate, clerk of court, and sheriff. It was so sparsely inhab- 
ited that it was difficult to find suitable persons to fill these 
positions. 

Lewis Cass Expedition. — Lewis Cass, who afterward 
became a very prominent character in national politics, 
made arrangements with the secretary of war in 1S19 to 
lead an exploring expedition into Minnesota; for Cass was 
then governor of IMichigan. The objects of the expedition 
were both commercial and scientific. Capt. Douglass was 
engineer, H. R. Schoolcraft mineralogist, and C. C. Trow- 
bridge topographer. Dr, Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago, 
was also one of the party, which in the main was com- 
posed of Indians and voyageurs. 

Nearly six weeks were consumed in the lake voyage 
from Deti'oit to the mouth of the St. Louis river, which 
they entered on the 5th of July, 1820. After visiting an 
Indian village of the Ojibwas and a trading post of the 
American Fur Company, both on the river, they proceeded 
to Sandy Lake. The Northwest Company was there no 
longer, but instead the American Fur Company was ac- 
tively engaged in trade. Before descending the Missis- 
sippi, Cass and about half of his party endeavored to find 



7© HISTORY OF MINNHSOTA. 



its ultimate source, and incorrectly decided that it was the 
lake which now bears his name. 

Like Pike, Cass endeavored to bring about j^eace be- 
tween the Ojibwas and Dakotas, and followed the same 
plan, persuading some of the chiefs of the former nation to 
visit the agency at ^Mendota for the purpose of holding a 
council with the Sioux. Having made a rapid descent of the 
river, he was enabled on the first of August to convene the 
Indian council in the agency house at Mendota. The United 
vStates Indian agent of that time was Major Lawrence Tal- 
iaferro,! a man of energy and tact. He was the first Indian 
agent in Minnesota, and remained in that position for 
twenty-one vears. He speaks in \varm terms of the con- 
duct of the Dakotas, claiming that in all that time they did 
not shed a drop of American blood, while the Chippewas, 
Winnebagoes, Sacs,2 and Foxes annually committed the 
foulest murders. But the well meant efforts of Gov. Cass 
were practically frustrated on this occasion by the indiffer- 
ence of the Dakotas, who had the chief Shakopee^ with 
them for spokesman. 

The remaining days of the expedition in Minnesota were 
partly spent at the villages of the chiefs Little Crow, Red 
Wing, and Wabasha. Those of the last two were situated 
where the cities of Red Wing and Winona now stand. 
Col. Snelling was met at Prairie Du Chien on his way to 
relieve Col. Leavenworth at Ft. St. Anthony and to pros- 
ecute with greater zeal the building of the post, which 
still existed more in name than fact. 

The Fur Companies. — Having learned by long experi- 
ence how ruinous their policy of contending with each 
other had been, the Northwest and Hudson Bay Com- 
panies united in 1S21. This left a number of the old 



72 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 



traders free to form new associations; and Renville, Mc- 
Kenzie and a few others united with some American 
traders in forming the Columbia Company with head- 
quarters at Lake Traverse.i At this time, also, the Ameri- 
can Fur Company, first organized by Astor^ in 1S09, had 
become a powerful and wealthy corporation whose influ- 
ence in Minnesota was exceedingly great. 

To-day, standing in one of the ancient fortifications of 
the mound-builders which surmounts an eastern bluff of 
that lake, one looks forward to the blue hills of Dakota 
beyond the farther shore, to the right and downward over 
"liquid miles" to where wooded points jut out by Mordada 
toward the west, to the left, a mile away, close by the 
water's edge, upon the Columbia Company's building site 
now distinguishable only by pits and mounds of earth and 
rocks. Thus the horizon alone girts their ancient domain, 
and the glory of the landscape is unchanged, but the com- 
panies have vanished and left scarcely a trace behind. 

The First Mills. — The first mills erected in Minnesota 
were two built by the United States government at St. An- 
thony Falls in 1S21 and 1823. They made flour and lum- 
ber for the garrison at Ft. Snelling. 

Selkirk's Colony. — Lord Selkirk still continued to 
work for an enduring settlement of his colony in spite of 
the failures of so many years. He persuaded a number of 
Swiss to emigrate from Europe and settle in the colony; 
but discouraged by its hardships, some deserted it in 1823, 
and after a long, toilsome journey by the way of Pem- 
binai and the Red River,2 reached Ft. Snelling in a con- 
dition of starvation. 

First Steamboat. — In the summer of the last men- 
tioned year, a large steamer named the Virginia arrived at 



mm 




74 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Ft. Snelling. This was the beginning of steam naviga- 
tion on the u^DjDcr waters of the Mississippi; before this it 
had been deemed useless to attempt passing the rapids at 
Rock Island and other barriers. 

Cass Treaty Broken. — The treaty made between the 
Dakotas and Ojibwas at the solicitations of Cass was soon 
broken, and Maj. Taliaferro endeavored to bring about a 
more abiding friendship; but they had hardly left the 
council house before an Ojibwa chief precipitated a quarrel, 
and the military at the fort were compelled to restrain the 
Dakotas from entering into a sanguinary contest. 

Long's Explorations. — In compliance with an order 
of the government, Maj, Stephen H. Long led an explor- 
ing expedition up the Minnesota, His assistants in this, the 
first distinctively scientific expedition to enter Minnesota, 
were Samuel Seymour, artist; Prof. W. H. Keating of the 
Pennsylvania University, mineralogist and geologist; and 
Thos. Say, one of the founders of the P hiladelphia Academy 
of Sciences, zoologist and antiquai^ian. Keating also acted as 
the historian of the party, carefully collating their manu- 
scripts, which were afterwards published in two volumes. 
Joseph Renville, a bois bruld^ acted as intrepreter; and Jos- 
eph Snelling,! son of the commandant of the fort of that 
name, was assistant inter^^reter. 

On the 9th of July, 1S23, the expedition left Mendota 
in two detachments, one by land the other in canoes by 
way of the river. The river party found most of the In- 
dian villages deserted, the Sioux havmg gone out on the 
chase. On the fourth day of the journey, the two detach- 
ments united again at Traverse des Sioux.2 Reducing their 
number and leaving the canoes, they mounted horses and 
cut across the great bend of the river 4o the vicinity of the 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



75 



present town of New Ulm, where they once more began 
to follow its course. July 23d, they came to Big Stone 
Lake and visited the lodges of a Dakota band on one of 
its lower islands. Farther up they were entertained at a 
post of the American Fur Company, and passing onward 
were as hospitably received at the station of its rival the Co- 
hmibia Company, situated on Lake Traverse. From here 
the march was down the Red River of the North to Pem- 
bina, where several days were spent in determining the lo- 
cation of the boundary line^ between British America and 
the United States. Thence going to Winnipeg,'* crossing to 
the Lake of the Woods, following the northern chain to 
Sturgeon Island in Rainy Lake, and finally by a northeast 
overland course reaching Ft. Williams on the Kamenistagoia, 
the expedition practically completed the objects of its labor. 

The scientific observations, though rapidly taken, were of 
great value. The geological and geographical descriptions 
of the Minnesota and Red rivers were particularly inter- 
esting, and to these some information was added relative 
to the faunas and floras of those valleys. 

Source of tlie Mississippi. — Great confusion existed in 
the minds of both the early and later explorers relative to 
the source of the Mississippi. In 1805, Pike, misinformed 
by those who were ignorant or who wished to deceive him, 
supposed Cass Lake to be the true source. It will be seen 
later that Schoolcraft claimed the honor of its discovery 
in the finding of Lake Itasca. Then came Nicollet trust- 
ing in Schoolcraft's claim, but modestly asking recogni- 
tion of his own services in tracing the inlets of Itasca to 
their remotest springs. Those unworthy of honor, but 
vigorous in pleading for it, assert that they, in the present 
decade, have found the source in Elk Lake.i There need 



76 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



be no error so far as the question is one of this century ; 
the existing historical records relating to it are for that 
length of time hoth definite and reliable. 

William Morrison, one of the most noted of the early 
fur traders, came to Leech Lake in October, 1S02, from 
Grand Portage on the north shore of Lake Superior. A 
year later, he followed the course of the river through 
lakes Cass and Pemidji^ to Lake Itasca, and saw the five 
small streams which flow into it. He discovered no indi- 
cations of white men having preceded him, and to him is 
doubtless due the honor of its discovery. Crossing the 
portage of the Heights of Land,3 he wintered at Rice Lake, 
the upper source of the Red River. He repeated this 
journey and again wintered at Rice Lake in 1811 — 12. 
There he met a trader of Mackinaw, named Otesse, who 
in the spring, when Morrison returned to Ft. William, ac- 
companied him as far as Fond Du Lac. The Alinnesota 
Historical Society Annals of 1S56 contain a letter which 
Morrison addressed to his brother, Allan Morrison, who 
also was a well known trader. In this letter, referring to 
the facts given above, he says: — 

" This will explain to you that I visited Itasca Lake, then 
called Elk Lake, in 1803-4, '^^^^ "^ 1811-13, and five small 
streams that empty into the lake, that are short, and soon 
lose themselves in the swamps. 
****** ** 

"Cass Lake receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross 
Lake those of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that 
empty into Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those 
streams I have noted before; no white man can claim the 
discovery of the source of the Mississippi before me, for I 
was the first that saw and examined its shores." 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 77 

Nevertheless, Morrison did not seek to explore these 
streams, that arduous task was left for the brave Nicollet, 
and with him truly rests the repute of its accomplishment. 
Writing in 1836 of his explorations in the summer of that 
year, he says: — 

" The Mississippi holds its own from its very origin ; for 
it is not necessary to suppose, as has been done, that Lake 
Itasca may be supplied with invisible sources, to justify the 
character of a remarkable stream, which it assumes at its 
issue from this lake. There are five creeks that fall into 
it, formed by innumerable streamlets oozing from the clay 
beds at the bases of the hills, that consist of an accumula- 
tion of sand, gravel and clay, intermixed with erratic frag- 
ments; being a more prominent portion of the erratic de- 
posit previously described, and which here is known by 
the name of Hauteurs des Terres^ heights of land. 

flp ■Sp •!? ^ ^ ^ tIp ^ 

" The waters supplied by the north flank of these 
heights of land, still on the south side of Lake Itasca, give 
origin to the five creeks of which I have spoken above. 
These are the waters which I consider to be the utmost 
sources of the Mississippi. Those that flow from the 
southern side of the same heights, and empty themselves 
into Elbow Lake, are the utmost sources of the Red River 
of the North; so that the most remote feeders of Hudson 
Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are closely approximated to 
each other. 

" Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca Lake 
(the Omoshkos Sagaigon^ of the Chippewas, or the Lac 
a la Biche^ of the French, or the Elk Lake of the British) 
one empties into the east bay of the lake; the four others 
into the west bay. I visited the whole of them; and 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



79 



among the latter there is one remarkahle above the others, 
inasmuch as its course is longer and its waters more abund- 
ant; so that, in obedience to the geographical rule 'that 
the sources of a river are those w^hich are most distant from 
its mouth,' this creek is truly the infant Mississippi; all 
others below^, its feeders and tributaries. 

"The day on vs^hich I explored this principal creek, (Aug- 
ust 39, 1836) I judged that, at its entrance into Itasca Lake, 
its bed w^as from fifteen to twenty feet wide, and the depth 
of water f I'om two to three feet. I stemmed its pretty brisk 
current during ten or twenty minutes; but the obstructions 
occasioned by the fall of trees compelled us to abandon the 
canoe, and seek its springs on foot, along the hills. After 
a walk of three miles, during which we took care not to 
lose sight of the Mississippi, my guides informed me that 
it was better to descend into the trough of the valley ; 
■where, accordingly, we found numerous streamlets oozing 
from the bases of the hills. 
** ****** 

"As a further description of these head watei's, I may add 
that they unite at a small distance from the hills whence 
they originate, and form a small lake, from which the Mis- 
sissippi flows with a breadth of a foot and a half, and a 
depth of one foot. At no great distance, however, this 
rivulet, uniting itself with the streamlets, coming from 
other directions, supplies a second minor lake, the waters 
of which have already acquired a temperature of 48.° 
From this lake issues a rivulet, necessarily of increased 
importance — a cradled Hercules, giving promise of the 
strength of his maturity; it transports the smaller branches 
of trees; it begins to form sand bars; its bends are more 
decided, until it subsides again into the basin of a third 



So HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



lake somewhat larger than the two preceding. Having 
here acquired renewed vigor, and tried its consequence up- 
on an additional length of two or three miles, it finally 
empties itself into Itasca Lake, which is the principal reser- 
voir of all the sources, to which it owes all its subsequent 
majesty." 

Count Beltrami. — On the arrival of the steamer Vir- 
ginia at Ft. Snelling, there appeared in the company of 
Maj. Taliaferro an educated Italian exile sometimes called 
the Count Beltrami.l He soon ingratiated himself among 
the ofiicers of the garrison, and being of an extremely ro- 
mantic, adventurous turn of mind, obtained permission to ac- 
company Long's expedition. Having quarreled with that 
officer and by his eccentricity made himself disagreeable to 
the others, he separated from them at Pembina, and resolved 
to accomplish great things by himself. With unbounded 
courage and hojoe, and at times with no one to guide him 
through a trackless country, he managed to find Red Lake. 
From this he traveled by way of Grand Portage river and 
across country to a small lake which drains into Turtle 
Lake. This small lake he called Julia,2 and supposing it 
to be a source of both the Mississij^pi and Red, termed it 
the Julian source of those rivers. While his adventures as 
porti'ayed by himself are as fantastic and exaggerated as 
those of an ancient knight-errant, his statements are not 
altogether valueless. 

Indian Treaties. — On the 19th of August, 1825, a great 
convocation of the northw^estern tribes was held at Prairie 
Du Chien. The United States government was repre- 
sented by Lewis Cass of Michigan and Gov. Clark of 
Missouri. The Dakotas and Ojibwas consented at that 
time to have a definite boundary placed between the hunt- 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



8i 



ing grounds of the two tribes to prevent further contention. 
The following year, Gov. Cass attended a meeting of the 
Ojibwas at Fond Du Lac,i Minnesota. All of the bands 
were represented, and a treaty was sealed on the 5th of 
August. This ^vas the first formal one made in Minne- 
sota. Among other things the Ojibwas promised to sever 
all allegiance to Great Britain, and to acknowledge at all 
times the United States supremacy. 

Border Wars. — Early in the summer of 1827, a small 
party of Ojibwas from Sandy Lake were treacherously 




WINNEBAGO OHERACKS OB BABK HUTS. 

attacked, just without the walls of Ft. Snelling, by a party 
of Dakotas whom they had entertained. It ^vas an occur- 
rence most unfortunate in its results; for the two nations 
kept up a continual contest for several years, during which 
the stipulations of the treaty made at Prairie Du Chien. 



82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



were violated. The Winnebagoes,! too, becoming exas- 
perated through a mistake in regard to this same affair at 
Snelling, attacked some supply boats descending the Mis- 
sissippi from that post, and began to prey upon the white set- 
tlers themselves. The whole border was in a fever of alarm, 
and the government began to concentrate its forces at 
Prairie Du Chien in order to quell the spirit of rebel- 
lion. The Winnebagoes were forced to succumb, and yield 
their famous chief Red Bird as a hostage. 

The Swiss Settlers. — The Selkirk settlement, whose 
histoiy from its inception had been one long record of suf- 
fering and death, was destined to never feel the ministra- 
tions of a milder fate. The fearful winter of 1825-6 was 
followed by a summer of flood \vhich swept everything 
before it, leaving the Red River valley one vast waste of 
'desolation. The Swiss settlers w^ho had remained behind 
their neighbors in the exodus of 1823 could endure their 
troubles no longer, and entering Minnesota settled in the 
country surrounding Ft. Snelling. Thus it came to pass 
that the star of empire had not guided the eastern emi- 
grants to the wilds of Minnesota before this discomfited 
band of the far north built their habitations within its 
borders, and so became its first permanent settlers. 

Schoolcraft's Expedition. — Henry Rowe School- 
craft, the celebrated author of various works on the history 
and life of the American aborigines, v\^as for many years 
the United States agent of Indian affairs at Sault Ste. 
Marie. While he still occupied that position, and after he 
had become quite well versed in the character of the natives, 
Schoolcraft was sent out by the government, in 1831, to visit 
the Indians of the upper Mississippi. By way of Lake 
Superior, Bad River, and the head waters of the St. Croix, 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. S3 



he entered the country in the vicinity of Shell and Ottawa 
lakes, Wisconsin, and made a futile attempt to persuade the 
Ojibwas of that region to be at peace with the Dakotas of 
Minnesota. 

In 1832, the government instructed Schoolcraft to visit 
the tribes toward the sources of the Mississippi. Lieut. 
Jas. Allen was in charge of the military part of the expedi- 
tion, which w^as accompanied by Dr. Douglass Houghton, 
scientist, and Rev. W. T. Boutwell, missionary. On the 
22d of June, following the route of the Cass expedition, 
they began the ascent of the St. Louis, from which they 
made a portagei to the Savanna^ and descended to Sandy 
Lake. Thus far their labors had been intense on account of 
the difficulty of the portages, a difficulty greatly inci"eased by 
heavy rains through which they were forced to march. 

The party entered Cass Lake on the loth of July, and 
from there to Lake Itasca^ their route was that of Morrson 
in 1804. It was many years after this that the explora- 
tions of the latter were made known ; therefore, School- 
craft supposed that he himself was the discoverer of the 
Mississippi's ultimate source, and the mistake everywhere 
passed current. Returning southward to Leech Lake, a 
portage was made to the head of the Crow Wing, and this 
led them to the Mississippi. 

Schoolcraft conversed with three or four of the Dakota 
chiefs at Ft. Snelling, voicing to them the complaints of 
the Ojibwas, who said the Dakotas had been guilty in 
breaking the treaties of Fond Du Lac and Prairie Du Chien. 
Little Crow* and Black Dog^ made the hackneyed state- 
ments of their desire for peace. It was not long after this 
that John Marsh^ enlisted the Dakotas as allies of the 
United States in the Black Hawk war^ then raging. 




DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS OB THE LONG POBTAGE. 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 85 

Schoolcraft for some cause deseited Lieut. Allen at this 
point, and the latter expressing great indignation ascended 
the St. Croix alone. 

The reports of the different members of the party 
abound in interesting descrij^tions of the country traversed 
by them. Lieut. Allen clearly observed its geographical 
features, particularly the w^ater courses, and made a map 
of the whole northern section. A number of valuable 
scientific papers from the pens of Cooper, Houghton, and 
Schoolcraft sum up the results of the expedition. 

Featherstoilhailgll. — During the summer of 1835, 
G. W. Featherstonhaugh,! an Englishman employed by 
the United States department of topographical engineers, 
made a geological survey of the Minnesota valley. He 
describes some of the affluents of that stream. Stemming 
the Blue Earth and Le Sueur rivers to a point about two 
miles up the latter, he eagerly ascended ro the prairie be- 
tween the Blue Earth and Maple, hoping to catch sight of 
the Coteau des Prairies ;2 but failing to find it, he hastily 
concluded that the Le Sueur story of a copper mine at the 
"foot of a long mountain " was nothing but a fable. The 
Frenchman Penicaut, by the term mountain, evidently re- 
ferred to the bluffs. Featherstonhaugh ascended the Min- 
nesota from the great south bend, and was gratified at last 
by seeing the blue line of the Coteau rising in the distance. 
On his return he published a geographical account of his 
trip; also another volume entitled, a " Canoe Voyage up 
the Minnesota." 

Catlin. — The same year that Featherstonhaugh was en- 
gaged in the valley of the Minnesota, George Catlin, the 
artist and renowned delineator of Indian manners and 
customs, determined to carry out his long cherished plan 




TBACKING. CROSSING A POETAGE. CAMPING ON A LONG PORTAGE. 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



87 



of visiting the pipestone quarry,! since famous in the poem 
Hiawatha. A friend and an Indian guide were his com- 
panions. The journey w^as made on horseback. 




Lilce Long, Cathn ascended the Minnesota, and crossed 
the bend from Traverse des Sioux to the mouth of the Big 
Cottonwood.2 Then proceeding across the western prai- 
ries, he came to the Coteaus ; and these he followed south- 



88 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



ward to the quany. His enthusiasm kindled when he 
beheld the place to see which he had journeyed twenty-five 
hundred miles, the place for countless generations sacred 
to the Indian tribes, and above whose scarred and shat- 
tered cliffs, or towering form of the flinty Manito,^ their 
legends seemed to hover like guardian spirits. 

Catlin's descriptions are accurate and spirited, and his the- 
ories* in regard to the erratics, scattered far and wide, and 
the polished surfaces of the rocks, are unique and sugges- 
tive. He speaks of the ancient fortifications^ and the won- 
derful "Maidens. "6 but does not notice the pictographs' 
made long ages ago upon the time-worn surfaces of the 
red-stone where those huge bowlders have found a resting 
place. 

Drecl Scott. — Few slaves were kept in Minnesota, but 
of those few two were destined to have their names go 
down to posterity on one of the most noted pages of na- 
tional history. One was a girl named Harriet, the proper- 
ty of Maj. Taliaferro, the other a man owned by vSurgeon 
Emerson, of Ft. Snelling. In 1835, Taliaferro sold Harriet 
to Dr. Emerson, and the year following she was united in 
marriage to the other slave. Dr. Emerson removed them to 
Missouri in i838,where many years after,when their master 
was dead, they claimed their freedom. Their case brought 
forth the celebrated decisioni of Chief Justice Taney2 that 
made the name of the man, Dred Scott, as familiar to all as 
a household word. 

Nicollet. — Among tne most noted names of Minnesota's 
later explorers stands that of Jean Nicolas Nicollet.^ He 
was a native of Cluses^ Haute Savoie.3 His early years 
w^ere studious yet full of struggles with adversity. In 
early manhood he came under the scholarly influence and 




PIOTOGKAPHS AT PIPESTONE. 



go HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tuition of such men as La Place,* and subsequently achieved 
notable distinction as an astronomer, having conferred 
upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honor.s Fi- 
nancial embarrassment finally drove him to the United 
States. 

The 26th of July, 1S36, accompanied by the French 
trader Fronchet,^ he started to explore the region of the 
upper Mississippi, carrying v^^ith him a telescope and some 
other portable scientific instruments. At Leech Lake he 
added to his escort a Canadian trader named Francis BrunetT^ 
and an Indian guide. On reaching Itasca Lake, he spent sev- 
eral days in examining the course of its inlets. In the au- 
tumn he was again at the Mendota Agenc}^, pursuing his 
studies and investigations v\^ith unrelaxing assiduity. 

The next season Nicollet went to Washington, and was 
commissioned to examine the northvs^est territoi'ies and re- 
port on their resources. His principal aid was John C. 
Fremont, at this time a lieutenant. The party ascended 
the Missouri to the vicinity of Ft. Pierre, and traveled east- 
ward to Minnesota. Passing over the Coteau des Prairies, 
which he lucidly describes, Nicollet came to the pipestone 
quarr}^ Concerning this freak of nature he furnished some 
interesting facts; for his were the careful researches of a 
keen scholar in love with nature. The whole surroundings 
inspired him as standing on the jagged cliffs he gazed out 
over a rich country rolling away like the green billows of 
a sea, limitless save where it seemed to dash against the blue 
hills far to the northward. There the tourist may read his 
nameS to-day chiseled on the crest of the jasper w^all where 
the waters of Pipestone Creek dash over the precipice, and 
where the solemn visaged Manito^ has kept its long vigil 
of centuries beside the Leaping Rock.iO 








t%.^'-.^ 



'jpsJ^^R^fjC^, 



THE M.\IDEN8. 



PIPESTONE FALLS, WET &L VSON. 
PIPESTONE FALLS, DBY SEASON. 



THE MANITO. 



92 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Nicollet next explored the country farther east of the 
Coteaus, paying particular attention to the region drained 
by the Blue Earth and its tributaries. The resources and 
beauties of this section he pictured vividly, and because of 
its abundant lakes and rivers, poetically named it the Un- 
dine region after the water sprite of Fouque'sH legend. He 




DAKOTAS OF TO-DAY DIGGING PIPESTONE. 

also critically examined the Castle Rocki2 in the Cannon 
valley and the Lone and Chimney Rocks of the Vermil- 
lion, basing on the information gained some valuable and 
interesting scientific opinions relative to the geological 
changes which he thought must have occurred to denude 
the surrounding country of its lighter formations and leave 
these great natural towers exposed. He considers the fab- 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



93 



ulous Long River of Baron La Hontani^ a verity, and 
likens it to the Cannon, while he ascribes the Baron's ex- 
aggerations to the spirit of the period. 

Like him of kindred life, Agassiz laboring "On the isle 
of Penikese,"ii Nicollet, child-like but earnest, stood humble 
and reverent in the presence of truth. In closing an ac- 
count of this 
remarkable 
man, it is fit- 
ting to quote 
a few words 
from the elo- 
quent tribute 
of his friend 
Gen. H. H. 
Sibley. He 
says : — 

"Even when 
he was aware 
that his disso- 
lution was 
near at hand, 
his thoughts 
reverted t o 
the days when 

he roamed castle bock. 

along the valley of the Minnesota river. It was my for- 
tune to meet him, for the last time, in the year 1S42, in 
Washington City. A short time before his death, I re- 
ceived a kind but mournful letter from him, in which he 
adverted to the fact that his days were numbered but at 
the same time expressed a hope that he would have 




94 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



strength sufficient to enable him to make his way to our 
country, that he might yield up his breath and be interred 
on the banks of his beloved stream. 

" He sleeps beneath the sod far away, in the vicinity of 
the capital of the nation, but his name will continue to be 
cherished in Minnesota as one of its eaily explorers and 
one of its best friends. The astronomer, the geologist and 
the Christian gentleman, Jean N. Nicollet, will long be re- 
membered in connection with the history of the North- 
west." 

First Protestant Missions . — About this period the 

influence of the protestant missionary societies began to 
make itself felt as a factor in the history of the Dakota 
and Ojibwa nations. Rev. W. T. Boutwell, a member 
of the Schoolcraft expedition, started a school and mission 
among the Ojibwas of Leech Lake in 1833. The next 
year two brothers, S. W. and G. H. Pond, opened a 
mission for the Dakotas, at Lake Calhoun, in which under- 
taking they were cordially supported by Agent Taliaferro 
and the officers at Ft. Snelling, With great labor they 
built a primitive log cabin where the suburban residences 
of Minneapolis now stand. 

During this year Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., visited 
the country of the Dakotas to examine into the feasibility 
of establishing missions. He came west again in 1S35 with 
a band whose members were Rev. J. D. Stevens and wife, 
of Central New York, missionaries; Mr. A. W. Huggins, 
farmer; and Misses Lucy C. Stone and Sarah Poage,i 
teachers. Dr. Williamson served both as physician and 
missionary. In June, a Presbyterian church was organized 
in the quarters at Ft. Snelling. Mr. Stevens and family 
moved to Lake Harriet and constructed a dwelling and a 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 95 



school of tamarack logs. Dr. Williamson, Mr. Huggins 
and Miss Poage located at Lac qui Parle, at which point 
a chui'ch was organized in 1S36. 

These pioneer missionaries were cheered in 1S37 ^^7 ^^^ 
arrival of Rev. S. R. Riggs and wife who were to be their 
colaborers. After spending a few" months at Lake Har- 
riet acquiring some Insight into the language of the 
Dak;otas, they joined the mission at Lac qui Parle. At 
this time Mr. G. H. Pond left his brother at the village of 
Cloudman and Drlfter2 near Lake Calhoun, and became 
teacher and farmer at Lac qui Parle. 

Meanwhile missionaries ot the Evangelical Society, 
Lausanne,3 Switzerland, located at the villages of the Red 
Wing and Wabasha bands, and those of the Methodists at 
Kaposia, from which place they subsequently moved to 
Red Rock. Both of these missions were soon abandoned. 

The lives of the missionaries were replete with toil, 
danger, and sacrifice, and the only glimpse they had of the 
civilization they had left behind was on coming in contact 
with the military and traders. 

Events of 1837. — The year 1837 so eventful In the 
financial history of the nation, was also remarkable in that 
of Minnesota for more than the progress of missions. At 
a council of the Ojibwas, held at Ft. Snelling, over which 
Gov. Dodge of Wisconsin Territory presided, that tribe 
cededi to the United States all the pine lands of the St. 
Croix and its tributaries. Capitalists Immediately began 
to improve the water power at the falls of the St. Croix, 
and this was the beginning of the now extensive manu- 
facturing of lumber so closely related to the commercial 
welfare of the State. The Palmyra, Capt. Holland com- 
mander, the first steamer to navigate the St. Croix, 




fil THO.S^vlLLlA^IbO^^^. , 



ffi W T BOUTWELL 



MISSIONARIES. 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 97 

brought the machinery for the projected mills. A dele- 
gation of the Dakotas at Washington, also, ceded2 to the 
government all their Minnesota lands east of the Missis- 
sippi. 

Removal of Swiss Settlers. — The national authorities 
chose that portion of country on the east bank of the Mis- 
sissippi opposite Ft. Snelling for a military reserve. The 
Swiss of the Selkirk colony had squatted on these very 
lands, and now objected strenuously to their removal. Oc- 
tober 2 1st, 1829, Poinsett, secretary of war, under the pro- 
visions of the act of 1S07 for preventing settlement on 
public lands until the law authorized it, issued an order to 
Edward James, United States marshal of Wisconsin Ter- 
ritory, to remove the Swiss settlers, and if necessary to call 
out the military for that purpose. They still persisted; 
therefore, the last clause of the order was carried out, the 
troops of the Ft. Snelling garrison forcibly ejecting them 
and burning their cabins to the ground. Poinsett's caution 
to use due mildness throughout seems to have been wholly 
ignored. Thus for the second time the Swiss became home- 
less and friendless in a land \vhere they had hoped to find 
peace and plenty. 

Battle of Pokeguma, — Many were the frays between 
the Dakotas and Ojibwas in these days, especially in the 
year 1839. The scalping knife never seemed to be sheathed, 
and the war cry greeted every rising and setting sim. It 
is only necessary to relate the history of one of these 
frays to explain the nature of all and picture the life they 
forced the Indians to lead. 

Twenty miles up the Snake river from its confluence 
with the St. Croix is a lake called Pokeguma.l It is girt 
by forests of tamarack and pine, and not far from one side 



98 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



is a little island. Opposite the island, on the gently rising 
slopes of the eastern shore, a band of the Ojibwas, fifty 
years ago, had one of their villages. About that time the 
missionary Boutwell and his colleague Mr, Ely went there 
to reside. Knowing full well the bitter nature of the 
feuds existing between this tribe and the Dakotas, the 
former had made a secret compact promising to warn the 
missionaries at Lake Calhoun when the Ojibwas premedi- 
tated an attack upon the other tribe. They in turn were 
to warn the Pokeguma mission when the Dakotas were 
about to surprise the Ojibwas. 

In the spring of 1841, the message came to Pokeguma, 
*' Be on your guard." It was enough. The missionaries 
and Indians moved in haste to the island, and two young 
braves were chosen to bear tobacco and pi^DCS to their allies 
at Mille Lacs, inviting them to lend succor. Before this, 
the Dakota chief had divided his band of one hundred 
thirty warriors into squads of five or more and secreted 
them in the woods with strict orders not to fire upon the 
Ojibwas for any reason whatever. He believed the latter 
would return to their cabins when their fears subsided or 
necessity compelled them, at which favorable time he in- 
tended to raise the war cry and lead the onset. 

The two messengers, now ready to start on the trail to 
Mille Lacs, paddled their canoe from the island to the 
farther shore. Two young girls went with them to bring 
back the canoe. Where it landed, one of the parties of 
the Dakotas was in ambush. Wild with excitement, they 
forgot the chief's command and fired, wounding one of the 
young men, both of whom returned the fire and escaped 
in the woods. The assailants pursued the little girls into 
the water, murdered them, and with savage fei"ocity cut off 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 99 



their heads. These they Avaved derisively in the sight of 
the people on the island, all of whom had witnessed the 
fearful deed. 

The fathers of the children seized a canoe, and regardless 
of danger pulled swiftly to the shore. A quick aim, the 
sharp crack of a rifle, a murderer lying dead on the sands — 
these were the events of a moment. There was not time 
to scaljD him, and snatching for a trophy his powder horn 
besmeared with blood, the revenged fathers fled from his 
comrades. One threw himself prostrate in the canoe, the 
other plunged into the lake, and while swimming with 
one hand held the canoe with the other and towed it away 
in safety. A rain of lead fell about them, but the bold 
warrior, never relaxing his hold or ceasing to swim, when 
he saw the foe take aim submerged himself until the 
sound of the volley died away. 

The foiled Dakota chief withdrew. The Ojibwas, when 
they dared venture to the shore again, cut off the head and 
arms of the dead murderer and brought them into camp. 
They dashed the head to atoms, but presented the arms to 
a woman whose son had been killed by the same tribe the 
year before, expecting her to dance and exult over them as 
was their custom on such occasions. Instead, she came to 
the mission and begged for some white cotton cloth, dnd 
while tears for the dead son dimmed her eyes, she tenderly 
wrapped the arms in its folds and buried them with the 
forgiving prayer of a Christian upon her lips. 

The Ojibwas were greatly excited, and not knowing how 
soon the enemy might return in force, struck their lodges 
and with a few supjolies of food in their bags fled toward 
Mille Lacs. " Go," said Boutwell to Mr. Ely, « follow 
them, keep up your school each day and the services of 



lOO HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Sunday. Soon they must return for food. Then I will 
go with them to relieve you." 

It was even so; for hunger is sure to bring boldness. 

After Boutwell had joined them, they one day came 
suddenly upon fresh tracks of moccasins, evidently made 
by two men. As startled as a herd of the wild deer, they 
dropped their packs and primed their guns anew. Mean- 
while, an old warrior began to walk in a set of the foot- 
prints, and with a quick, glad cry named the person who 
made them, a member of their own tribe. That evening 
the warriors fired off their guns one by one; for they were 
w^ont to reload them with dry jDowder in anticipation of 
night attacks. After the firing ceased, two guns answered 
from a distance, and in a little while the person named by 
the old warrior as the one who made the tracks came into 
camp \vith his companion. Boutwell says one can hardly 
conceive how great is the fear in which an Indian lives. 
He is ever on the alert to discover signs of his enemy. A 
broken twig, a faint rustling of leaves will set a whole vil- 
lage in a wild uproar. 

St. Croix County. — The country between the St. Croix 
and Mississippi rivers which had previously been under the 
jurisdiction of Crawford county w^as, in 1S41, organized un- 
der the name of St. Croix; but it>5 separation from the 
former was not actually effected until 1847. Stillwater, then 
but a hamlet and the supply depot of the lumber districts, 
w^as made the county seat, and a term of the United States 
District Court was held there in June, Judge Dunn presid- 
ing. This was the first national court held within the lim- 
its of the present State. 

Settlement of St. Paul. — The founding of new mis- 
sions by Riggs at Traverse des Sioux and Ayer at Red 







h^ TE I nil 111 I !nj 




CHAPEL OF ST. PAUL, 



POST-OFFICE OF TO-DAY. 



I02 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Lake, in 1S43, and the removal of the Winnebagoes, much 
against their will, from their ancient home in Iowa to a 
reservation girt b}- the Crow Wing, Long Prairie, Sauk, 
and Mississippi rivers were some of the additional note- 
worthy events marking the last decade of this period. But 
the one of greatest importance was the settlement of St» 
Paul.i 

A chapel2 of that name was erected in 1S40, and a ham- 
let sprung up which became the nucleus of the future cap- 
ital. Two years later, Henry Jackson^ and a few^ other 
ti^aders built small stores above what is now the levee. Dr. 
Williamson, who by invitation of Little Crow had left the 
Lac qui Parle mission in 1S36 to reside at Kaposia, thus 
writes of St. Paul as it appeared in 1843: — 

" My present residence is on the utmost verge of civili- 
zation, in the northwest part of the United States, within 
a few miles of the principal village of white men in the 
territory that we suppose will bear the name of Minnesota, 
The village referred to has grown up within a few years 
in a romantic situation on a high bluff of the Mississippi, 
and has been baptized, by the Roman Catholics, with the 
name of St. Paul. They have erected in it a small chapel, 
and constitute much the larger portion of its inhabitants. 
The Dakotas call it Im-ni-jas-ka (white rock), from the 
color of the sandstone which forms the bluff on which the 
village stands. This village contains five stores, as they 
call them, at all of which intoxicating drinks constitute a 
part, and I suppose the principal part, of what they sell. I 
would suppose the village contains a dozen or twenty 
families living near enough to send to school." 

Resume'. — This may well be called the period of tran- 
sition between the times of the voyageurs and settlements; 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



103 



of romantic adventure yielding to scientific research; of 
slowly shifting- scenes in the prologue of yet another great 
drama of modern American life, for which the forces of 
civilization were steadily arranging themselves while the 
outside world began to look with eyes of eager expectancy 
for the opening of the first act. 




ILLUSTRATED 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 




Organization. — In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into 
the Union with its boundaries defined as at present. Pre- 
vious to this time, a futile attempt had been made to 
organize a new territory which should include all that 
remained of the old Wisconsin Territory. Congress, 
however, adjourned ^vithout making that provision for the 
government of this section which seemed necessary under 
the new condition of affairs. Already forecasting the 

104 



THE TERRITORY. IO5 

bright future of the region to which they had come, tlie 
people were restless in their endeavors to establish a new 
territorial government. Small groups of citizens might 
now and then have been seen assembled at St. Paul de- 
vising plans to this end. Later, in the month of August 
of the year above mentioned, two public meetings were 
held at Stillwater, at the latter of which sixty-two dele- 
gates were present. 

John Catlin, governor of the old Wisconsin Territory, 
claimed that its government still remained in force over 
the portion that had been excluded from the state of the 
same name. Acting upon his advice, and sustained by his 
proclamation, the people held an election October 30th to 
choose a delegate to Congress in place of John H. Tw^eedy, 
who had been requested to resign ; for it was thought by 
these means Congress would be compelled to judge of the 
validity of the old government, and thus the organization 
of the desired new territory would be hastened. H. H. 
Sibley was the delegate chosen; and he was allowed to 
take his seat, although a minority report of the Congress- 
ional committee before whom the matter was laid opposed 
his admission. 

Ably supported b}' other leading citizens, Sibley urged 
the claims of the new territory so successfully that it was 
organized under the name of Minnesota, March 3d, 1849. 
Its boundary line coincided with the northern boundary of 
Iowa and the western boundary of the same to its crossing 
of the Missouri river; thence extending up that stream 
and its branch the White Earth to the British line; along 
the British border to Lake Superior; out to the most north- 
westerly point of Wisconsin in that lake; and, finally, along 



Io6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



the western boundary of Wisconsin to the place of begin- 
ning. 

One stormy day in early April, the first packet boat of 
the season plowed the icy current of the upper Mississippi 
as if impatient to reach her moorings; for she brought 
glad tidings of the territorial organization. The cliffs of 
Imnijaska^ which a few^ moments before had echoed the 
herald steamer's warning whistle, now answered back the 
shouts of citizens almost wild with joy because their village 
had been proclaimed the seat of government. 

First Newspaper. — A few days later a printing press 
Was set up in this newest and strangest of capitals, and the 
publication of the first newspaper begun. It was called 
2he Pioneer, and its editor was Jas. M. Goodhue, a man of 
education and considerable native ability. 

(jOV. Ramsey. — Alexander Ramsey of Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, who had already attained a firm foot-hold in 
national politics, was the first governor appointed. He ar- 
rived before the close of this eventful month of April, and 
June 1st issued a proclamation declaring the new govern- 
ment duly organized, and warning all citizens to hold them- 
selves obedient to its laws. 

Judicial Districts. — Three judicial districts were 
formed. The first was the old county of St. Croix; the 
northeast section, or La Pointe county, with the additional 
country north of the Minnesota and the right line drawn 
westward fi'om its headwaters to the Missouri constituted 
the second; while the third comprised the remaining re- 
gions to the south and westward of the former stream. 
Aaron Goodrich of Tennessee, Chief Justice, presided over 
the first; Bradley B. Meeker of Kentucky, Associate Jus- 
tice, over the second ; and David Cooper of Pennsylvania, 



THE TERRITORY. I07 



Associate Justice, over the third. In the month of August, 
in response to a call from the governor, courts were held 
in these districts in the order indicated. Stillwater, St. 
Anthony Falls, and Mendota were the places of meeting. 
The court room at St. Anthony was in the old government 
mill ; at Mendota in a stone warehouse belonging to one of 
the fur companies. 

Council Districts, — In July, the governor also pro- 
claimed the division of the Territory into seven council 
districts, and issued an order for the first election of mem- 
bers of the Council, representatives of the House, and a 
delegate to Congress. This election was held in August, 
and resulted in the choice of H. H. Sibley for delegate. 

Notes of Interest. — During this year two more news- 
papers, named the Register and the Minnesota Chronicle, 
began publication at St. Paul, but before its close united 
under the title of Chronicle and Register. A land office 
was now established at Stillwater. The census of the 
settlements in all this vast territory, taken by the sheriff 
of St. Croix county, showed the population to be only 4,680. 

Immigration. — But while day by day events like these 
were falling thicker and faster, the very air seemed to 
prophesy the fulfillment of greater things; and hosts of 
adventurous men eagerly turned their faces toward the 
new land of promise the fame of whose resources had 
been noised abroad. 

First Legislature. — The 3d of September, 1S49, will 
ever be memorable in the history of Minnesota Territory 
as the day upon which its first legislature convened. There 
was something of quaintness in this first meeting; for no 
stately house of legislation with towering dome and deco- 
rated chambers awaited its members, but instead they found 



io8 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



beneath the roof of a humble log hoteU food and shelter 
for themselves and ample room in which to transact the 
affairs of state. 

The Council was composed of nine members, and the 




3W^s^jKi/o /JS 



OENTBAL HOUSE FIEST CAPITOL OF MINNESOTA. 

House of eighteen. David Olmsted of the settlement of 
Long Prairie, a native of Vermont and the youngest man 
in the Council, was inade its permanent president; and Jo- 



THE TERRITORY. IO9 



seph W. Furber,of the settlement of Cottage Grove, a na- 
tive of New Hampshire, became speaker of the House. 

The system of common school education was carefully 
considered by this legislature, and it organized the counties 
of Itasca, Wabasha, Dakota, Wanata, Mankato, Washing- 
ton, Ramsey, Benton, and Pembina, some of which re- 
main in existence at this day. 

The Historical Society. — During the legislative ses- 
sion, the Minnesota Historical Society was incorporated. 
Its purpose was to encourage the spirit of research, and 
preserve the historic relics and records of the Common- 
wealth, which it might from time to time collect. The 
first meeting was held at St. Paul in January, 1850. The 
historian Edward Duffield Neill delivered a scholarly ad- 
dress in which he reviewed the history of the early French 
missionaries and voyageurs. It was an auspicious begin- 
ning of what has come to be a useful and influential society. 

First Public School. — Before the close of November, 
1849, the citizens of St. Paul met to consider the matter of 
establishing the first public school in the Territory, all 
schools previous to that time having been of a private 
character or under the charge of benevolent societies. 

The Great Seal. — A device for the great seal of the 
Territory was adopted about this time. It was substan- 
tially the same as the present seal of the State, save in 
place of the motto U Etoile du JVord, Star of the 
North, stood ^ue sursum volo videre^ I wish to see vv^hat 
is above. The engraver, however, made the latter appear 
in the unclassic form ^10 sursum veto videre^ which fact 
probably led to its abandonment; but oddly, yet suggest- 
ively, the blazing sun of the escutcheon has been retained 
for the new motto. 



no HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Initial Treaties. — It must be remembered that as yet 
only a small portion of the vast domain of JMinncsota Ter- 
ritory had been ceded by the Indians to the United States; 
namely, that triangular section of country bounded on the 
east by the St. Croix, on the west by the Mississippi, and on 
the north by a line running due east from the mouth of 
the Crow Wing to the St. Croix. vSteps were therefore 
taken to provide for the rapidly increasing immigration. 
Gov. Ramsey and Ex-Gov. Chambers of Iowa were com- 
missioners appointed on the part of the United States to 
purchase the native titles; but on rejDairing to Mendota in 
the fall of the year, they found that the greater part of the 
Indians were absent on the chase, and succeeded in pro- 
curing from the rest only a small tract of country adjacent 
to Lake Pepin. 

In the month of June, 1S50, a great council was held at 
Ft. Snelling. The tents of the war-like Pillagers dotted 
the plateau without the walls, and all was life and motion 
within the garrison, the long lines of infantry filing out 
into battle line. For the Ojibwas' dread enemies, the Sioux, 
were momentarily expected, and these troops were to act 
as a foil between these always contending nations. Sud- 
denly the Sioux war cry arose from the leafy slopes of Pi- 
lot Knob beyond the Minnesota, and mighty in war paint 
and feathers, they swept like a dusky cloud across the val- 
ley and up the opposite slopes to the mouths of the frown- 
ing cannon. Their turbulence, however, soon subsided. 

The council tent witnessed all the pomp of Indian elo- 
quence and ceremony. After Gov. Ramsey's address, 
Hole-in-the-dayi responded on the part of the Ojibwas, and 
Bad Hail for the Sioux. Commissioners from among the 
whites were chosen by each tribe to adjust its claims and 



THE TERRITOY. 



Ill 



settle its difficulties. As for the rest, they promised 
to the " Great 
Father" at 
Wa s h i n g t o n, 
the hand of 
friendship t o 
the settler, 
and cessation 
of hostilities 
among them- 
selves. Thus 
was the initial 
step taken that 
led to the more 
formal and im- 
portant treaties 
of 1851. 

Nayigating 
the Minneso- 
ta. — In the 
month of July, 
the navigation 
of the Minne- 
sota by large 
steamers was 
begun, the first 
going as far as 
the Blue Earth 
River and oth- 
ers far beyond 
the great south 
bend. 



fealty 




HOLE-IN-THE-DAY II. 



Growth of St, Paul. — Meanwhile, St. Paul was grow- 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



ing apace, and as its internal changes were typical of ter- 
ritorial progress, it is well to note the condition in which 
it now existed. The following words from the pen of 
Fredrika Bremer, the Swedish novelist, will suffice for 
this purpose: — • 

" The town is one of the youngest infants of the Great 
West, scarcely eighteen months old; and yet it has 
in a short time increased to a population of two thousand 
persons, and in a very few years it will certainly be pos- 
sessed of twenty-two thousand. 

" As yet, however, the town is but in its infancy, and 
people manage with such dwellings as they can get. The 
drawing-room at Gov. Ramsey's house is also his office, 
and Indians and work people, and ladles and gentlemen, 
are all alike admitted. 

" The city is thronged with Indians. The men, for the 
most part, go about grandly ornamented, with naked hatch- 
ets, the shafts of which serve them as pipes." 

Second Legislature. — The second legislature met Jan- 
uary ist, 1 85 1. David B. Loomis, of Marine Mills, became 
president of the Council, and M. E. Ames, of Stillwater, 
speaker of the House. 

Partisan Disputes. — Partisan feelings which were 
only in their infancy when the first legislature was in 
session had waxed stronger and stronger in the intervening 
time, and now burst forth in a flood of bitterness. One 
great cause of dispute was the apportionment bill based 
upon the first census. Some claimed that the sections in 
which scarcely any land was under cultivation, and whose 
inhabitants were for the most part Indians, had been given 
equal representation in the territorial legislature with the 
more densely settled and cultivated regions. They even 



114 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

went further, and asserted that the territorial government 
did not legally extend over that great domain nominally 
w^ithin the Territory but which had not been ceded by the 
Indians to the national government. The ground of this 
argument was decided by high legal authority to be unten- 
able, the bill passed the legislature, and, in a rage, seven 
members resigned. 

Spirit of the Press. — The territorial press of the day 
"was fierce in its denunciation of individuals, and in conse- 
■quence of a feud brought on in this way, the editor of the 
Pioneer w^as stabbed in the street before the capitol, and 
jn turn shot his oj^ponent. 

Public Buildings. — The erection of a Capitol, for 
which provision had been made in the 13th Section of ,tlie 
Organic Act, created an exciting debate at the first legisla- , 
tive session. At the second session, a spirit of compromise 
prevailed, making St. Paul the permanent seat of govern- 
ment and locating the teiritorial prison at Stillwater. 

Territorial University. — As a part of the same com- 
promise, a bill was also passed establi^hing the University 
of Minnesota at or near St. Anthony Falls. Congress af- 
ter a spirited discussion relative to the rights of squatters 
on lands devoted to school purposes, finally denying the 
same, granted two townships for the support of the new 
university. 

Ojibwa Famine. — The Ojibwas of Red, Cass, Leech, 
and Sandy lakes, in a great measure dejDrived of their an- 
nuities, nearly perished of hunger and epidemics during 
the cold months of winter, and the famous Hole-in-the-day 
came to the capital to plead with Indian eloquence for his 
perishing race. 

Traverse des Sioux Treaty, — The month of June 



THE TERRITORY. II5 

had opened with terrific thunder storms which greatly 
swelled the Minnesota and its tributaries. Nevertheless, 
Gov. Ramsey and Luke Lea, United States Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs, acting as a special commission, ascended 
that stream to Traverse des Sioux in order to treat with 
the upper bands for the cession of lands lying to the west- 
ward of the Mississippi. For some reason the Indians were 
slow in leaving their villages or tarried long by the w^ay. 
It was the iSth day of July before they had all arrived 
and concluded their sacred dance to the " Thunder Bird" i 
and other ceremonies which to them seemed important on 
such an occasion. 

On that day, the great council of Sissetons^ and Wah- 
petonsS convened. The chiefs and commission smoked the 
calumet,* and the missionary S. R. Riggs explained to the 
former the style of the treaty desired. It was signed on 
the 23d, these bands ceding all the country east of the Big 
Sioux and Lake Traverse and south of the head waters of 
Watabs river and the northern inlets of Otter Tail Lake, 
save a reserve reaching ten miles back from each side of the 
Minnesota, beginning at the mouth of the Yellow Medi- 
cine^ and extending to Lake Traverse. In addition, they 
were to receive $1,665,000 of which $375,000 was to be 
paid on their removal to the reservation, and the remainder 
placed at interest was to provide them with an annuity of 
$98,000 for fifty years, the same to be expended in cloth- 
ing, rations, and for the promoting of their education and 
civilization. 

Mendota Treaty. — Tlie 5th of August, the commission 
also met the Mdewakantonwani and Wapekute^ bands on 
Pilot Knob,3 ISIendota. There were many chiefs present, 
including Little Crow. The inter2:)reter on this occasion 



Il6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



was the missionary G. H. Pond. These lower bands on 
then* i^art, ceded all their lands in Minnesota and Iowa, 
some four million acres m all, and were assigned a reser- 
vation beginnmg fifty miles above Traverse des Sioux and 
extending to the reservation of the upper bands at the 
moulh of the Yellow Medicine. This reservation, like the 
Other, extended ten miles back from the river on either 
side. They were to receive $220,000 on their removal, 
and $30,000 annually for fifty years to be expended for the 
same purposes as in the case of the Wahpetons and Sisse- 
tons. 

Political Parties. — At the close of this legislative 
period, two well defined political parties held the field — - 
the Democratic and Coalition. The Whig element started 
a paper before the close of the year. 

Third Legislature. — On the 7th of June, 1852, the 

third territorial legislature met, William H. Forbes, of St. 
Paul, presiding over the Council and John G. Ludden, of 
Marine, over the House. This legislature created the 
county of Hennepin, and passed a prohibitory liquor law. 

Material Development. — The opening of this period 

was under different ausjDices than those attending the pre- 
ceding legislatures. Then the excitement of establishing 
a government and maintaining it according to his peculiar 
political notions turned the citizen's mind away from self; 
now, at the dawn of commercial and agricultural progress, 
political passions slumbered, and each bent all his energies 
to the furthering of his material prosperity. The broad 
prairies and timber belts of the lately ceded lands of the 
Sioux invited the hardy and the brave to make homes for 
themselves and their children. 

Settlements. — Among the first settlements were those 



THE TERRITORY. II7 

at Shakopee, Traverse des Sioux, Kasota,i and Mankato^ 
in the Minnesota valley, and one, the largest of all, in the 
valley of the RoUingstone near Winona.3 

The St. Peter River. — As the result of a memorial 
presented to Congress, the United States Senate originated 
a bill changing the name of the St. Peter river to that of 
Minnesota, and with the English the French form St. 
Pierre, as the voyageurs had called and the children of the 
bois brule lisped it for nearly two centuries, was soon 
almost forgotten. 

Change of Chief Justices. — Jerome Fuller had as- 
sumed the duties of Chief Justice, before the close of 1851, 
in place of Aaron Goodrich. In the latter part of this 
year, 1852, Henry Z. Hayner was aj^pointed to supersede 
Fuller, whom the Senate failed to confirm for another 
term. 

Fourth Legislature. — The fourth legislature organized 
January 5th, 1853, with Martin McLeod, of Lac qui Parle, 
as president of the Council and David Day, of Long 
Prairie, speaker of the House. 

Got. Ramsey's Message. — In his annual message. 
Gov. Ramsey vividly pictured the progress of the Territory 
from the inception of its government, and with almost 
prophetic vision lifted the veil from before its future his- 
tory. He thus speaks in the final j^aragraphs: — 

"In concluding my last annual message, permit me to 
observe that it is now a little over three years and six 
months since it was my happiness to first land upon the 
soil of Minnesota. Not far from where we now are, a 
dozen frame houses, not all completed, and some eight or 
ten log buildings, with bark roofs, constituted the capital 
of the new territory, over whose destiny I had been com- 



Il8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



missioned to preside. One county ,1 a remnant from Wis- 
consin territorial organization, alone afforded the ordinary- 
facilities for the execution of the laws; and in and around 
its seat of justice resided the bulk of our scattered popuhi- 
tion. Within this single county were embraced all the 
lands white men were jDrivileged to till, while between 
them and the broad rich hunting grounds of untutored sav- 
ages, rolled the River of Rivers,^ here as majestic in its 
northern youth as in its more southern maturity. Emphat- 
ically new and wild appeared everything to the incomers 
from older communities; and a not least novel feature of 
the scene was the motley humanity partially filling these 
streets — the blankets and painted faces of Indians, and the 
red sashes and moccasins of French voyageurs and half- 
breeds, greatly predominating over the less picturesque 
costume of the Anglo-American race. But even while 
strangers yet looked, the elenients of a mighty change 
were working, and civilization with its hundred arms 
was commencing its resistless and beneficent empire. 

" The fabled magic of the Eastern tale, that renewed a 
palace in a single night, only can parallel the reality of 
this growth and progress. 

" In forty-one months the few bark-roofed huts have 
been transformed into a city of thousands. In forty-one 
months have condensed a whole century of achieve- 
ments, calculated by the old world's calendar of progress 
— a government proclaimed in the wilderness, a judiciary 
organized, a legislature constituted, a comprehensive code 
of laws digested and adopted, our population quintupled, 
cities and towns springing up on every hand, and steam 
with its revolving arms, in its season, daily fretting the 



THE TERRITORY. 



119 



bosom of the Mississippi, in bearing fresh crowds of men 
and merchandise within our borders." 

Prohibition . — The prohibitory liquor law, previously 
mentioned, having been adjudged unconstitutional by Chief 
Justice Hayner, a vain attempt was made to pass another 
less objectionable. 

Proposed Division of School Funds.— Bishop Cretini 

of the Roman Catholic church, ably supported by his fol- 
lowers, endeavored to secure the passage of a bill provid- 
ing for a division of the public school funds that should al- 
low part of them to be applied in the support of parochial 
schools. The principal plea was that those who, by reason 
of religious scruples, sent their children to the latter 
schools, were still forced to support by taxation the public 
schools from which they derived no direct benefit. Al- 
though honorably submitted to the legislature, a bill so 
undemocratic in its implied 
doctrines caused no little ex- 
citement and debate, and met 
at last with failure. 

Gov. (jOrman. — Franklin 
Pierce had now become Presi- 
dent of the United States, and 
following strictly the Jackson- 
ian principle,! removed Gov. 
Ramsey and his colleagues and 
appointed as governor Willis 
A. Gorman of Indiana, a Ken- 
tuckian by birth, who had 
served as an officer in the Mex- oo^- gorman 

ican war. The new Chief Justice was William H. Welch 
of Minnesota, and the Associates Moses Sherburne, of 




I20 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Maine, and Andrew G. Chatfield, of Wisconsin ; but R. 
R. Nelson and Charles E. Flandrau, both of Minnesota, 
were the Associates during the last year of the Territory. 

Removal of the Sioux. — When the summer months 
bad passed, and the first frosts were tinging the forests, 
the Sioux in compliance with their lately made treaties de- 
serted the villages of their forefathers on the MississijDpi 
and lower Minnesota, and sought their reservations in the 
upper valley of the last mentioned stream. Hard in their 
wake flowed the tide of eager and hapj^y immigrants. 
Neither race mistrusted how near the days were at hand 
when their mournful annals would darken the pages of 
history, and all their joy be turned to sorrow. 

Delegates to Congress. — In October of this year, Hen- 
ry M. Rice was elected delegate to Congress. He was the 
successor of Sibley, and therefore the second delegate of the 
Territory. He held the position until the spring of 1S57, 
and then gave place to W. W. Kingsbury, the third and 
last delegate. 

Fifth Legislature. — The territorial Capitol was ready 
for occupation when the fifth legislature met, January 4th, 
1854. ^' -^' Olmsted, of Belle Prairie, was elected presi- 
dent of the Council, and N. C. D. Taylor,of Taylor's Falls 
speaker of the House. 

Gov. Gorman's Message. — In his first annual message 
Gov. Gorman urged speedy legislation in behalf of educa- 
tion, and the construction of railroads to meet the constant- 
ly increasing demands for transportation toward the eastern 
sea-board. 

Northwestern R. R. Co. — The latter question became 
the all absorbing topic of the season, but only in its last 
moments, after the hour of midnight, was a definite step 



THE TERRITORY. 131 



"taken in the chartering of the Minnesota & Northwestern 
Raih'oad Company. It proved to be in more senses than one 
a deed of night, whose baneful influence for years brooded 
like a night mare over the seat of government, and on more 
than one occasion aroused political passion to an intense 
fever heat. Nevertheless, to the surprise of all, the gov- 
•ernor signed the bill. 

President Fillmore's Tisit. — In the month of June 

Ex- President Fillmore and a party of distinguished 
scholars, among whom ^vas the historian Bancroft, vis- 
ited St. Paul and the scenes about St. Anthony Falls. Ev- 
erything \vore a gala day aspect, and the people gave them- 
selves over to enjoyment. But hardly had their guests de- 
parted, and they themselves ceased to build air castles of 
future greatness after the magnificent sjoecifications laid 
down in the polite and flattering speeches of the preceding 
days, ere trouble began to brew in the halls of Congress 
over the railroad interests of Minnesota. 

Land Grants. — Now it must be understood that in their 
-anxiety to foster commercial and other interests the legis- 
lature of the Territory had granted the Minnesota & North- 
western Company powers of an extraordinary kind, and 
had promised to grant it all lands which should thereafter 
te given Minnesota by the national government to aid in 
■constructing railroads as well as all those lands of that 
character then possessed by the Territory. 

Congress Interferes. — A bill had been wisely framed 
in the United States House of Representatives to prevent 
svich a monopoh', but either through fraud or careless 
engrossing the alteration of certain w^ords destroyed its 
whole tenor. The suspicions of Congress v\^ere aroused, 
and in consequence the bill ^vas repealed. The company 



123 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



in question denied the right of Congress to repeal the act 
after said comj^any had compHed with its provisions; and 
shortly afterward when the United States authorities, 
entered into litigation with the company for alleged tres- 
pass on that part of the national domain lying within 
Goodhue county, the matter was decided by Chief Justice 
Welch, of Minnesota, in favor of the defendants. The 
whole question was finally submitted to the United States 
Supreme Court, but was withdrawn by the attorney-gen- 
eral before a decision had been reached. So the company,, 
for the time being, held the field. 

Sixth Legislature. — The sixth legislature convened 
on the 3d of January, 1855, and organized with William 
P. Murray, of St. Paul, for president of the Council and 
James S. Norris, of Cottage Grove, speaker of the House 
A year had not sufficed to quell the political storm aroused 
by the railroad legislation, territorial and national, of the 
preceding season, and it now raged with renewed energy^ 

Gorman's Yeto. — Gov. Gorman, evidently awakened 
to a full conviction of the serious dangers likely to ensue 
in the future history of the Commonwealth should the acts- 
already passed not be hedged in by safeguards, w^as as 
vigorous in his opposition to the new legislation shaping 
itself in behalf of the Minnesota & Northwestern Company 
as he had previously been active in support of the old* 
He promptly vetoed a bill which the legislature had passed 
to amend the company's charter; but on the 21st of Feb- 
ruary, it was carried over his veto by the required two- 
thirds majority. 

The Charter Annulled. — Meanwhile, the railroad af- 
fairs of Minnesota were being agitated in Congress. The 
House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring the 



THE TERRITORY. 



123 



charter of the Northwestern Company null, but the Sen- 
ate failed to concur. The people of the Territory, blind 
to all dangers, and thinking only of the great need for 
lines of communication which would give impetus to its 
settlement and commercial development, received the news 
of this victory with triumphant demonstrations. 

Republican Party Organized. — The 29th of March 

witnessed the dawn in Minnesota of that new political 
era fast hurrying the nation into the maelstrom of civil 
conflict; for on that day the Republican party organized 
in convention at St. Anthony. Subject to the call of this 
convention, another convened on the 25th of July, at which 
time W. R. Marshall received the nomination of delegate 
to Congress. He was opposed by the Democaatic nomi- 
nee David Olmsted and the old incumbent Henry M. Rice, 
who in the subsequent election 
won the position over both 
competitors. 

Hazelwood Republic. — .«p-^iv "7\ 

In 1S54, w^hen the mission / gff^ ^^ ^ 

houses at Lac qui Parle had 
accidently been consumed by 
fire, the missionaries and In- 
dians of that community set- 
tled on the banks of Rush 
Brook, or Hazel Run, which 
enters the Minnesota from the 
south-west five or six miles 
from the Yellow Medicine 
Agency. 

The world has known many strange governments, but 
none stranger or more suggestive of possibilities in Indian 




LITTLE PAUL. 



124 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 

civilization than that at this same mission on the banks of 
Hazel Run. Dr. Riggs speaks of it in these terms : — 

"We had such a respectable community of young men, 
who had cut off their hair and exchanged the dress of the 
Dakotas for that of the white men, and whose wants now 
were very different from the annuity Dakotas generally, 
that we took measures to organize them into a separate 
band, which we called the Hazelwood Republic. They 
elected their President for two years, and other needed of- 
ficers, and were without any difficulty recognized by the 
agent as a separate band. A number of these men w^ere 
half-breeds, who were, by the organic law of Minnesota, 
citizens. The Constitution of the State provided that In- 
dians also might become citizens by satisfying a court of 
their progress in civilization. 

"A few vears after the organization of this civilized com- 
munity, I took eight or ten of the men to meet the court at 
Mankato; but the court deciding that a knowledge of Eng- 
lish was necessary to comply with the laws of the State, 
only one of my men was passed into citizenship," 

Little Paul, Ma-za-koo-ta-ina-ne^ a noted sub-chief of 
the Sissetons, still living, was the President of the little re- 
public. He it is who is spoken of later as one who helped 
to ransom ]Miss Gardner from Inkpadoota's band, and he 
it is who spoke so eloquently for the captives in the great 
massacre of 1S62, No shrewder diplomat or gifted orator 
ever ruled more worthily, even over enlightened people. 

SeYentll Legislature. — John B, Brisbin, of St, Paul, 
was the president of the seventh legislative Council, and 
Charles Gardiner, of Westervelt,i speaker of the House. 

Again by far the greater part of the legislative session 



THE TERRITORY. I25 



was squandered in the never ending debate and intriguing 
over the affairs of the Nortliwestern Railroad. 

Gov. Gorman's Tiews. — The governor in his annual 
message clearly laid the matter before the people. He 
showed them that he had from the beginning been deeply 
impressed by the gravity of the situation, and while he 
had sanctioned by his signature certain amendments which 
were calculated to protect the interests of the Commpn- 
wealth against the encroachments of a doubtful corpora- 
tion, still lamented that other safeguards had not been pro- 
vided. By the aid of earnest private and public citizens, 
he had secured a reversion, to the future state, of two per 
cent, on the gross receipts of the company, which if the 
latter prospered would relieve the citizens from the bur- 
dens of state taxation. On the other hand, if the company 
failed to construct the road, and were made to forfeit in 
consequence the lands promised to them, then, too, the 
state would suffer no harm. Nevertheless, he had little 
faith in their professions of ability to build the road, nor 
had the means employed by them to secure desired ends 
met Avith his approval in any way, and he trusted such 
means never would. 

Popular Themes. — In the brief intervals of this agi- 
tation, the legislator found j^astime with the private citizen 
in discussing another theme; namely, the division of Min- 
nesota into two territories along the forty-sixth parallel 
of latitude. But territorial days began speedily to wane; 
the advent in the summer months of a new and v^^idc-spread 
agitation of the question of admission into the Union was 
like the sudden appearing of a bright star of hope in the 
settler's sky before which all others paled into insignificance. 

Eighth. Legislature. — The eighth legislature convened 



126 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



on the 7th of Januaiy, 1S57. John B, Brisbin president of 
the preceding council held the same position in this, and 
Joseph W. Furber the speaker of the first territorial legis- 
lature was now made speaker of the last. 

Attempted Change of Capital. — The most exciting 

bill of the session was one to remove the permanent seat 
of government from St. Paul to St. Peter. It passed the 
House, but when called for in the course of Council pro- 
ceedings could not be properly reported by the committee 
in charge; for the chairman of that committee, the Hon. 
Joseph Rolette of Pembina, had absented himself, carrying 
with him the only properly enrolled form of the bill. A 
call of the Council was moved, and Rolette still being 
absent, the president ordered the sergeant-at-arms to report 
him in his seat. This was Saturday, February zSth; but 
from that time on until the close of Thursday, March 5th, 
all other business was suspended. Throughout the whole 
time the members did not leave the Council chamber, but 
ate and slept there like soldiers on the field of battle who 
rest on their arms when danger is imminent. Wearied at 
last, they adjourned for a day. On Saturday thev met for ' 
the last time. Rolette was still absent, and warned that 
the hours of the legal period of session were fast ebbing 
away, the stubborn spirit of the Council 3'ieldcd, the usual 
course of business was resumed, and the famous bill was 
lost. 

Inkpadoota Massacre. — Five miles from Mankato in 
a wild gorge surrounded by steep, rocky hills, are the 
beautiful cascades of Minneopa.i Below the large fall, at 
the foot of a sandstone cliff where the hill and forest shad- 
ows make perpetual twilight, there is a little grotto which, 
if the settler's story be true, witnessed the inception of one 



THE TERRITORY 



127 



of the darkest frontier tragedies. Here, he will tell you, 
Inkpadoota,2 a roving Dakota chief of the Wapekute band, 
planned the frightful massacre of Spirit Lake, Iowa, and 
Springfield,^ ISIinnesota. 

In the early spring time, the people of those settlements 




MINNEOPA FALLS. 



had offended Inkpadoota; and in the month of March he 
sought revenge. The band first attacked a party of eleven 
white men in a cabin, killing all as they fled from the burn- 
ing structure. Then they went successively to the homes 



128 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



of the Gardner, Thatcher, Nobles, and Marble families, 
killing all save the mothers of the last three households- 
and Miss Abbie Gardner, This was on the shores of Spirit 
Lake. A man by the name of Markham alarmed the set- 
tlement of vSpringfield, situated ten miles up the Des Moines,, 
but without avail; for many of its inhabitants were mas- 
sacred about the twenty-seventh of the month. 

The whole frontier for a hundred miles to the eastward 
was panic-stricken. The settlers gathered in groups, and 
fortified themselves in their log cabins, or sought safety in 
the more densely populated communities. In the mean- 
time, a military expedition from Iowa and another from 
Ft. Ridgely, Minnesota, hastened to the scene of slaughter, 
where they found and buried over thirty persons. 

Inkpadoota and his band were now far on their way to 
the Missouri, bearing with them the captive women, whom 
they treated most inhumanly. In crossing the Big Sioux, 
they shot Mrs. Thatcher in the stream, where she had fall- 
en through weakness ; and not long after they murdered 
Mrs. Nobles. Two young men. Sounding Heavens and 
Grey Foot, of the Hazel wood mission at Lac qui Parle 
rescued Mrs. Marble; and two influential Indians, Paul't 
and Otherday,5 who belonged to the same mission, traced 
Inkpadoota to the James river and ransomed Miss Gardner. 

About the month of July, Inkpadoota's son, who had 
murdered Mrs. Nobles, pitched his camp on the Yellow 
Medicine. Agent Flandrau was apprised of the fact, and 
with a detachment of troops from Ft. Ridgely surrounded 
the unsuspecting criminal who was shot in his endeavor to 
escape. Maj. Sherman came up with a battery, and the 
whole command pitched camp. Near by, several hundred 



THE TERRITORY. 



Yanktons had also encamped with their friends of the Up- 
per Agency. 

The government insisted that the annuity^ Indians should 
pursue and punish Inkpadoota on pain of losing their pay- 
ments. This they did reluctantly, as many had sympathy 
for the marauder. Bad feeling -was engendered, and it 
was increased by trouble that arose on account of a 
young brave having deliberately stabbed one of the sol- 
diers in Sherman's camp. The Indians struck their 
tents, and their heated councils foreboded an outbreak. 
Peace, however, was secured for the time being; but their 
passions smouldered on, ready to be fanned into flame by 
the least breath of discord ; and the contempt they learned 
to feel for the soldiers was a source of misfortune to the 
whites in after days. 

The Enabling Act. — On the 26th of February, 1857, 
the United States Senate passed an act enabling the people 
of Minnesota to form a state 
constitution previous to its ad- 
mission into the Union. By 
this act, the boundaries of the 
State were defined as at jDresent, 
and it granted lands for the 
support of schools and the erec- 
tion of public buildings. 

Gov. Medary. — By another 
act of the same session,alternate 
sections of land were granted 
for the construction of rail- 
roads within the State. To ap- qqv. medabt. 
portion this grant, and to consider matters relative to the 
new change of government, Gov. Gorman called an extra 




130 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



session of the legislature; but before it convened, April 
27th, he was superseded by Samuel Medary, an appointee 
of President Buchanan. 

Constitutional Conyentions. — On the first Monday 

of June, delegates were elected to the constitutional con- 
vention on the basis of two for each representative in the 
territorial legislature. According to a further provision of 
the enabling act, this convention was to meet on the second 
Monday of July. No hour was specified ; so both the Re- 
publican and Democratic wings assembled in the Capitol 
.at midnight. As a leader of the former, J. W. North en- 
'deavored to call the convention to order, while the secre- 
itary of the Territory, Charles L. Chase, at the same mo- 
ment tried to do likewise in the interests of the latter. The 
Democrats finally withdrew, and organized a separate con- 
vention. Both carried on their deliberations in the Capitol 
for weeks, and at last, so courteous it is said had been the 
spirit prevailing throughout, they agreed on the adoption 
of the same constitution August 29th. It was ratified Oc- 
tober 13th by an almost unanimous vote of the people. The 
old territorial officers held over until the formal admission 
of the State. 

Act of Admission. — In January, 1S5S, the final bill for 
the admission of Minnesota was submitted to the United 
States Senate, but was retarded in its passage by Southern 
leaders. Nevertheless, it was successfully carried April 
7th, and was signed by the President on the nth of May. 
Thus the deed was done, and Minnesota entered a new 
and bright star in the galaxy. 



ILLUSTRATED 



m 



RY 



"n 



m 




I. SIBLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 

Gov. Sibley. — Hemy fl, Sibley was bora of New Eng- 
land parentage at Detroit, Michigan, February 20th, 181 1. 
At the age of eighteen he was a clerk at Mackinaw in the 
service of the American Fur Company, and about five 
years later became its resident agent at Mendota, Minne- 
sota, holding the position until the proposed organization 

131 



132 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 




of the Tenitory called him to Congress as a delegate of 
Wisconshi Territory. In the constitutional convention he 

presided over the Democratic 
wing, and in 185S M^as declared 
governor of the State. His 
career as a delegate and mili- 
tary commander are recorded 
elsewhere in the course of this 
history. In later years he has 
been honorably identified with 
the regency of the University. 
The New Era.— The be- 
ginning of the period upon 
which we are about to enter 
was a critical time in the affairs 
GOV. SIBLEY. of Minnesota, and demanded 

a firm hand and thoughtful mind to guide well the ship of 
state. The panici of 1S57 had caused great stringency in 
the money markets of the United States, so that it became 
no easy task to negotiate loans for a new and struggling 
commonwealth whose future commercial status none could 
with certainty jDredict. 

Unscrupulous capitalists, through the short-sighted lib- 
erality of the last territorial legislature, had secured all of 
the four million five hundred thousand acres of land grant- 
ed by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads. The 
inability of these capitalists to carry out their promises was 
soon proved ; but the people through their representatives 
again listened to specious pleas. 

In the legislature of 1858, the first in the history of the 
State, the public credit was pledged to the amount of five 
million dollars to further subsidize the delinquent railroad 



THE STATE. 



33 



companies. As adopted, the Constitution forbade the loan 
of the State's credit in behalf of individuals or corporation*; 
but by an amendment ratified by the people April 15th, 
this section was practically expunged. Thus no legal bar- 
rier prevented the negotiation of the five-million loan. 

Issuing the Bonds. — -The governor having refused to 
issue the pledged railroad bonds was compelled to do so by 
a mandamus of the Supreme Court, Judge Flandrau dis- 
senting. This was in November, 1S58. More than two 
million dollars worth were thrown upon a dull market, 
and even then the projected lines of transportation were 
but traceries on paper. 

Normal Schools. — While the legislatui-e and people 
were thus apparently absorbed in material affairs, they 
were not unmindful that the social advancement of a great 
commonwealth must be established on a thorough system 
of popular education ;- and they stood ready, to the extent 
in which they foresaw the need, to found and cherish any 
auxiliary institution of such a system. It must be owned 
that normal schools were not then in high repute. Yet an 
act was passed August 2d looking forward to the estalish- 
ment of three schools of that kind. These in due time 
v^erc located at Winona, Mankato, and St. Cloud, those 
towns having met the requirements of the act by each 
donating five thousand dollars in monev and lands to the 
institution It sought to secure. 

International Transit. — To palliate the Impetuous 
spirit of the people shown in the bestowal of the State's 
newly acquired domain and the loan of its credit, and to 
be fully impressed by the great advancement in facilities of 
travel and transportation made during the first quarter cen- 
tury of this period, one must understand that at this time 




THE NIGHT OAMP. 



READY TO STAUT FBOM ST. PAUL. HOMEWARD BOUND, 



THE STATE. 



135 



the stao-e coach was the only passenger vehicle and the 
heavy w^agon the only means of carrying freight to interior 
districts. 

An overland route betv^een St. Paul and Breckenridge ort 

the Red River 
— I of the North,, 
was opened in 

From the latter 
place a steamer 
conveyed mer- 
chandise to the 
distant territory 
of the Hudson 
Bay Company, 
whose fur traf- 
fic was also car- 
ried on by this 




few^f»-S^#tSj^«i^!iia^^K 



BED BIVEB OABTS AT ST. PAUL. 



BESTING ON THE PBAIBIE. 



136 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



route. But even before this could be accomplished the 
machinery for the steamer had to be slowly carried by team 
from the Mississi^^pi to the Red River. On the journey, 
the tcanisters were obliged to spend many weary nights 
encamped in the deep snows of the western plains. This, 
too, was scarcely beyond the days of the dog train,i and Red 
River cart trains'^ that were wont to go lumbering along 
the ever famous trail to the noi'thward whose hollows, 
deep-worn by the footsteps of a past generation, can still 
be traced through the under-bush of many a forest and 
■over the sward of many a prairie. 



II.— RAMSEY'S ADMINISTRATION. 

Gov. Ramsey. — Alexander Ramsey was born near Har- 
xisburg, Pennsylvania, September Sth, 1815. He secured 

an academic education at La- 
fayette College, pursued a 
course of law at Carlisle, and 
was admitted to practice at the 
bar of Dauphin county. 

Besides holding minor offi- 
cial positions in his native state, 
he served it as United States 
Representative in the zSth and 
29th Congresses. President 
Taylor, as we have seen, ap- 
pointed him first governor of 
INIinncsota Territory, and the 
GOV. RAMSEY. f ^n elcctiou of I S59 made him 

Sibley's successor. vSince his governorship of the State, he 
has represented it twelve years in the United States Senate. 




THE STATE. I 37 



In the administration of President Hayes, he filled the va- 
cancy made by the resignation of McCrary, secretary of 

Ramsey's Inaugural. — In his inaugural addr'ess, Gov, 
Ramsey urged the legislature to provide some plan for set- 
tling the outstanding ^-ailroad bonds, lest in future years 
the holders should clamor ceaselessly at the doors of the leg- 
islature for payment in full, and if not granted raise a cry 
of repudiation which would be destructive to the State's 
•credit. It was a possibility whose realization proved to be 
not far distant. 

The State University. — This same legislature of 1S60, 
the second in the history of the State, repealed the old act 
establishing the Territorial University, and on the basis of 
a new land grant from Congress, founded the State Uni- 
versity of to-day. 

Third Legislature. — This legislature convened in Jan- 
uary and adjourned in March, 1861. Its most important 
acts related to the school system of the State. Among 
these were laws to regulate the sale of public school 
lands,! of which there were tv>'o sections in each township 
exclusively devoted to the support of the lower or common 
schools besides the sjDCcial grants made in favor of higher 
education. 

A bill was passed creating the separate office of Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction, a position previously held 
ex-officio by the Chancellor of the University. 

The Rebellion.^ — In the presidential election of 1S60, the 
majority of the votes cast were for Lincoln; and now that 
Sumter had fallen, and the other states of the North were 
making speedy preparation for the conflict, Minnesota led 
the vani in the greatest and most heroic struggle of modern 



138 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



times. Hei" brave frontier settlers whose forms wei'e knit 
by toil and hardship, and whose eyes were sharp and hands, 
quick in the use of the rifle, without hesitation left their 
peaceful homes already enveloped in the shadow of an ap- 
proaching calamity, and hastened to the defense of the na- 
tional capital. Gov. Ramsey was then in Washington, and 
offered President Lincoln the immediate assistance of a 
regiment. The offer was accepted; the message flew on 
the lightning's swift wings to Minnesota's loyal capital; the 
lieutenant governor at once issued a proclamation calling" 
for troops, and on the 21st of June, the ist Regiment fully 
organized and ecpiipped started for the seat of war under 
the command of Col. W. A. Gorman, and became a potent 
factor in the great army then assembling on the banks of 
the Potomac. 

Military Record of 1861. — The ist Regiment having^ 
gone into winter quarters at Alexandria,! Virginia, was 
subsequently joined to Franklin's brigade, which in turn, 
formed part of Heintzelman's division. The first memor- 
able campaign of Bull Run crowned this gallant regiment 
with laurels. Beyond Sudley Church, near Centerville, ia 
supporting Rickett's battery, they were exposed to a galling 
fire of infantry and artillery while themselves engaging a 
portion of the enemy in a hand to hand conflict — never 
flmching, said their commanding officer, but retiring in, 
good order after a loss of one-fifth of their number. Re- 
cruited at Washington, they were joined to a brigade com- 
manded by Gorman, now raised to the rank of brigadier- 
general, and formed a part of Stone's division, which was. 
posted on the upper Potomac. Col. N. J. T. Dana super- 
seded Gorman in the immediate command of the regiment* 



THE STATE. 1 39 

It rendered efficient service in the vicinity of Edward's 
Ferry at the time of the battle at Ball's Bluff. 

Meanwhile, the 2d Regiment had been organized under 
the command of Col. H. P. Van Cleve and ordered in Oc- 
tober to proceed to Louisville, to be united with the Army 
of the Ohio. The same month, a company of sharp-shooters, 
under Capt. F. Petelfer, entered the 2d Regiment of that 
branch of the regular United States service, but was after- 
ward attached to the 1st Minnesota, with which it remained 
until both were mustered out. 

The 3d Regiment was mustered in about November and 
moved south to Tennessee under the command of Col. 
Henry C. Lester. 

Besides these troops, a company of light artillery, known 
as the 1st Battery, proceeded to St. Louis, and three com- 
panies of cavalry were raised and united to the 5th Iowa. 
These companies were commonly designated as Brackett's 
Cavalry. 

Military Record of 1862. — In the spring of 1862, the 

ist Regiment moved from its winter quarters to Harper's 
Ferry, and crossing the Potomac joined Sedgwick's divis- 
ion. Shortly after. Col. Alfred Sully superseded Dana, 
who had been promoted. From Winchester, the i^egiment 
was called to join the army centering at Fortress Monroe, 
and afterward took part in the siege of Yorktown and 
distinguished itself in the fierce contests at Fair Oaks, 
Peach Orchard, and Savage Station. By order of Gen. 
McClellan, the 2d. Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters 
were permanently incorporated with the regiment at Fair 
Oaks. When the base of operations was again changed to 
the Potomac, the i^egiment played an important part at 
Malvern Hill, Antietam, and Fredricksburg. 



140 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The 2d Regiment in the month of January gallantly op- 
posed the enemy at close quarters in the desperate encoun- 
ter at Mill Spring, in April was at the siege of Corinth, and 
finally, transferred to the Army of the Tennesee, engaged 
in the battle of Perryville. 

The 1st Battery, fighting persistently, aided in turning 
the tide of battle at Shiloh, and later was at both the April 
and October battles of Corinth. 

The 4th and 5th Regiments, now reported at the seat of 
war, also won honorable distinction at these conflicts of 
Corinth and the intermediate one of luka. Col. John B. 
Sanborn commanded the 4th and Col. Lucius F. Hubbard 
the 5th. 

The year's history of the 2d Battery Avas the same as 
that of the 2d Regiment as above recorded. 

The 3d Regiment surrendered at Murfreesboro through 
the timidity of its commander or his lack of judgment, and 
after parole was sent home to serve in the v^^ar with the 
Sioux. 

The Sioux Massacre. — It is not necessary to inform 
an intelligent Anglo-American as to the original character 
of that race of aborigines which has ever receded be- 
fore the westw^ard maixh of civilization; much less is it 
essential to dwell long on the changes it has undergone in 
the lapse of centuries; for, from childhood, he has heard of 
its good and evil traits and often beheld them with his own 
eyes. Nevertheless, for our present purpose, it is fitting 
to glance briefly at changes which took place in the life of 
the Sioux after the settlement of Minnesota. We have 
considered from the advent of the voyageurs a growing 
dependence upon traders and a corresponding neglect of the 
chase ; have noticed their transfer of broad territory to the 



THE STATE. I4I 



national government and their confinement within the nar- 
row limits of two reservations. These two facts give us 
the key to their subsequent history. 

Heartless traders, and no less fraudulent government 
agents, by presenting exorbitant and fictitious claims, de- 
prived them of their annuities; avaricious settlers, not sat- 
isfied with the fertile acres they already tilled, encroached 
on the reserves; and to crown all, after an unsuccessful 
hunt in the winter of 1861-62, gaunt famine and the Sioux 
stood face to face through many a bleak and weary day. 
No wonder they looked back with longing hearts to the 
plenteous days of the English and Frehch alliances. If 
spring in any measure appeased their hunger it did not al- 
lay their passions, and when June came and the annuities 
which should have then been paid were not forthcoming, 
these passions waxed stronger and stronger. The traders 
refused them further credit. Even government officials 
taunted them in a cruel manner when they sought aid or 
redress. 

The Indians of the Lower Agency organized the " Sol- 
dier's Lodge,"! or council of young warriors. They w^ere 
ripe for conflict. " Have we not been forbidden to fight 
with our enemies the Ojibwas ? Have we not been robbed 
of our money and depi-ived of our lands ? Is there not a 
great war in the south that takes the Great Father's 
strength ? Have not all the young men gone to fight and 
left the old men and boys at home ? Did not Inkpadoota 
escape, and shall not we ? Will not the English help us? 
See the small garrisons at Ridgely and Abercrombie !" 
With these and other arguments the Soldier's Lodge urged 
the tribes to take the war path. 

The golden harvest had just fallen before the settler's 



142 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



sturdy stroke, and he was about to gather in its bounteous 
sheaves, when another reaper stood suddenly beside the 




THE settler's FATE. 

cabin door "with his sicl<;le keen," and the harvest that fell 
before his withering stroke was the happiness and hopes 



THE STATE. I43 



of years, the purity of womanhood, the innocence of child- 
hood, and Hfe itself. 

Early in August, a party of warriors belonging to Shako- 
pee's band, whose village was situated on Rice Creek 
about seven miles from the falls2 at the Redwood, started 
on a fora}' or hunt in the Big Woods. 3 They were ac- 
companied by four warriors of the Lower Agency. The 
latter having gotten into an altercation with the former 
over some trivial matter, the two parties separated, each 
eager for an opportvmity to refute the taunting statement 
of the other that they were cowards. 

The four Agency Indians proceeded to the tavern of 
Robinson Jones, at Acton^^ near the present town of Litch- 
field. He refused their demand for liquor, and accused 
them of keeping a gun previously borrowed from him. 
They next went to the house of Howard Baker.5 Jones 
and his wife followed them, and the quarrel was renewed. 
Exasperated by this treatment, the taunts of the Rice Creek 
Indians still ringing in their ears, they lost all control and 
shot Jones and his wife, Mr. Baker, and Mr. Webster a 
newly arrived settler. Then, returning to Jones's house, 
they completed their bloody work by killing Miss Clara 
D. Wilson. 

After their passion had somewhat cooled, they were ter- 
rified by thoughts of retribution, and fled to the home of 
Little Crow two miles above the Lower Agency. Here a 
council was held, and the Indians resolved to stand by the 
culprits. Little Crow, while not unmindful of the perils 
which might result to himself and people from such a 
course, nevertheless, determined to lead them on the war 
path. This was the 17th of August. The following 
morning, swift and sudden as a whirlwind, they fell upon 



144 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



the Lower Agency, and with hands unstaid by thoughts 
of mercy, massacred the traders and government employes, 
plundered the stores, and applied the torch to the dwell- 
ings, warehouses, and mission. 

Before noon, news of the outbreak had reached Fort 




AOTON MONUMENT. 

Ridgely, a post situated on a commanding position fourteen 
miles below on the opposite side of the Minnesota. Capt. 
Marsh, with forty-eight men of the garrison, immediately 
started for the scene of slaughter, and, with a bravery that 



THE STATE. I45 

could not be intimidated by the stories of the fugitives 
whom he met by the way, pushed resolutely forward. He 
fell into an ambuscade at the Redwood ferry ojDposite the 
Agency. Half of his party were killed, and he himself 
lost his life by drowning in attempting to retreat across 
the stream. 

Meanwhile, Little Crow had sent messengers to apprise 
all the bands of the beginning of hostilities, and the whole 
country on both sides of the Minnesota from the Big Cot- 
tonwood to the Yellow Medicine, especially in the vicinity 
of Beaver and Sacred Heart creeks, was the field of count- 
less scenes of murder and devastation. And when the 
shades of night had fallen, the horrible work still wen t on. 
For countless miles, the prairies and fringing forests of the 
river were lit up by lurid flames of burning habitations, 
now the funeral pyres of once hapjDy families. The flow- 
ers and grasses of the prairie were everywhere steeped in 
the blood of the dying and the dead, and every thicket 
shrouded a ghastly horror. 

In vain did the friendly Other-day strive to persuade the 
Yanktons, Sissetons, and Wahpetons of the Upper Agency 
to shun the war path, but with daring bravery led a party 
of sixty men, women, and children from their midst to the 
safety of the settlements. Among those vs^ho escaped from 
the vicinity of the Upper A^gency^ were the missionaries 
Riggs and Williamson with their families. 

Little Crow and his exultant warriors then moved to at- 
tack Ft. Ridgely. But some trouble, it is said, having 
arisen among them, the chief and only part of the band 
secreted^ themselves near the fort. The delay caused by 
this dispute gave an opportunity for a relief party under 
Agent Galbraith to enter the post. 



146 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



In the meantime, the other faction of the band attacked 
New Uhii with terrible effect, and it was only saved from 
utter destruction by the advent of the vanguard of a relief 
party from St. Peter. The squad was commanded by 
Sheriff Boardman. At nine o'clock in the evening, the 

main body a hun- 
dred strong, led by 
Judge Charles E. 
Flandrau, safely 
entered the be- 
sieged town. The 
day following this 
their number was 
doubled by volun- 
teers from Man- 
kato and Le Sueur. 
The Indians, who 
h a d withdrawn, 
returned to Little 
Crow. The forces 
thus reunited sud- 
denly attacked the 
fort on the after- 
noon of Wednes- 
da}^ The two suc- 
ceeding days they 
made furious on- 
set, but all their attempts to dislodge its gallant Inmates 
were fruitless. 

Like the waves of an angry flood they swept down the 
valley, and once more laid siege to New Ulm. Its defend- 
ers themselves applied the torch to the outlying buildings 




OTHEB-DAY. 



THE STATE. I47 



that they might not shelter their fierce enemies, and with 
a courage born of desperation rejDclled every savage 
attack. 

While these events Avere passing, other warriors rode 
swiftly and far on their bloody forays. Near Forest City, 
the wild war-whoop of the savage and the despairing wail 
of his victim rang out together in the clearings ; and by the 
shores of far off Shetek, the chiefs Lean Bear, White 
Lodge, and Sleepy Eyes' laid waste the settlement, and 
the names of many of its inhabitants were added to the 
still lengthening roll of the dead. 

So closed a week of terror. More than eight hundred 
settlers were lying mutilated and dead, and others were 
suffering the horrors of a cruel captivity. Thousands of 
crazed fugitives were fleeing for safetv, and for hundreds 
of miles the frontier was a scene of desolation where once 
had reigned peace and j^rosperity. 

When news of the outbreak reached St. Paul, Gov. 
Ramsey immediately appealed to the national government 
and the neighboring states for assistance. Private property 
was appropriated to the use of the hard-pressed State, and 
a hastily equipped force of 1400 men, including four com- 
jDanies of the 6th Minnesota temporarily stationed at Ft. 
Snelling, was soon under way to the seat of conflict. Col. 
H. H. SibleyS commanding. After some delay at St. 
Peter, Col. Sibley reached Ft. Ridgely and threw up 
strong entrenchments. From this point manj- of the citi- 
zens returned to their homes; but shortly, Lieut, Col. W. 
R. Marshall with a portion of the 7th Regiment joined 
the command. 

The Indians, according to the report of the scouts, had 
retired with their families above the Yellow Medicine. 




■X^^^-f^^^^S^**^* 




SCE^E& AT FT. KIDGELi. 
WITHIN THE QUADRANGLE. THE INDIANS' KAVINE. 

U8 



THE STATE. 



149 



But hearing that New Uhn was now deserted, and hoping to 
find plunder there and successful conquests in the settle- 
ments farther d6^vn the valley, a large war party once 
more began the descent of the Minnesota. 

At this stage of affairs, Maj. J. R. Brown with a mixed 
detachment of mounted men and infantry, about one hun- 
dred fifty in all, marched to the Lower Agency, and buri- 
ed those who had been killed both there and in the neigh- 
boring country. At evening, Sunday, August 31st, they 
pitched camp on a level, low-lying summit near where 
Birch Coolie debouches into the Minnesota opposite the 
Agency. Here it was that the descending warriors fell 
upon the unsuspecting camp in the gray of early dawn. 
Twenty of the detachment of soldiers were killed, sixty 
wounded, and ninety of their horses slaughtered by the 
deadly rain of lead pouring ceaselessly down upon them, 
from a higher eminence. For thirty-one hours, without 
food or water, these heroic troops, lying behind the dead 
animals and the low mounds which they had thrown up 
with their knives and bayonets, kept their savage foes at 
bay. 

The sound of the musketry^ was heard at the fort four- 
teen miles away, and a detachment of fifty cavalry under 
Col. Sam. AicPhaill, over a hundred infantry under Maj. 
McLaren, and a howitzer in charge of Capt. Mark Hen- 
dricks hastened to the relief. They engaged the enemy 
three miles from the coolie. The muffled voice of the 
howitzer, long continued, soon gave to the silent but anxious 
inquiries at the fort answer of an ineffectual attack. At 
sunset, a messenger confirmed it, and Col. Sibley with the 
remainder of the garrison hastened forward in the uncer- 
tain darkness of the night. The following morning, with 



I50 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



a storm of shot and shell, the foe were driven from the be- 
sieged camp and over the river. The dead were buried, 
and the wounded carried back to the fort. 

September 3d, Ft. Abercombie, which had been for 
some days in a state of siege, w^as again vigorouly assaulted. 
The same day, a body of citizens, on the way to defend 
Forest City, accidentally fell in with a large war party on 

the slopes near Long 
Lake tw^o miles from the 
Baker homestead at Ac- 
ton. Little Crow led the 
Indians, and Capt. Strout 
the whites. A severe but 
brief battle ensued, and 
■"^ trout's forces carrying 
twenty - three wounded 
fled before the hotly pur- 
suing Sioux to Hutchin- 
son. The people of that 
LiiTLE CROW, town were gathered in a 

strongly fortified stockade in the public square, and having 
been partially beleaguered befoi-e this, they were upon the 
alert. Ninety able bodied, courageous men, officered by 
W. W. Pendergast, Lewis Harrington, Andrew Hopper 
and Oliver Pierce, made a sortie from four sides and held 
the new assailants successfully at bay. 

As soon as supplies were obtained for the cam^^aign, 
Sibley's troops once more moved forward in force, and the 
33d of September encountered the enemy on the high 
prairies near Wood Lake, not far from the Upper Agency 
at the ford of the Yellow Medicine. The conflict was des- 
perate. The Sioux were badly defeated, their hopes van- 





FOBU OF THE YELLOW MEDICINE. BUINED WABEHOUSE. UPPEH AGENCY HOUSE. 

151 



152 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



ished in the smoke of battle, and the more savage of their 
number fled with Little Crow toward the British Posses- 
sions, leaving the rest in camp with one hundred fifty 
white captives. 

The troops encamped at the site of the Hazlewood Mis- 
sion, and Col. Sibley treated with the friendly Indians to 
secure the freedom of the captives. This was accomplished 
at a place to this day called Camp Release in commemora- 
tion of the event. It was situated, as old rifle pits still 
show, at the mouth of the Chip23ewa in the jDresent county 
of Lac qui Parle. 

Several hostile warriors were found lurking in the 
camp, expecting clemency or hoping to avoid detection of 
their crimes. To these were added many at first thought 
to be innocent, and others belonging to small bands pur- 
sued and captured by the soldiers. 

All were tried before a military commission, and over 
three hundred condemned to death. President Lincoln 
forbade the carrying out of the sentence save in the case of 
thirty-eight, who were hung at Mankato on the 26th of 
December.io Thus closed one of the most mournful pages 
of Indian history. Who that did not see shall fitly depict 
the sufferings of those August and September days, the 
fortitude of mothers bereft of their children, the self sacri- 
fice of kindred for kindred, and the heroic courage of citi- 
zen and soldier in desperate siege and on weary marches 
by night and day ? Alas for Minnesota ! The Star of the 
North, which had so lately and proudly arisen, suddenly 
waned and lingered wavering on the clouded horizon of 
future events. 



THE STATE. 



153 



III.— RAMSEY-SWIFT ADMINISTRATION. 



Ramsey's Re-election. — In the fall of 1S63, Gov. 

Ramsey was re-elected, but the fifth state legislature before 
whom he delivered his annual address January 7th, 1863, 
conferred upon him the United States senatorship pre- 
viously held by H. M. Rice. 

Gov. Swift. — When Gov. Ramsey took his seat in the 
Senate, Lieut-Gov. Henry A. Swift became the chief 
executive. He was born at Ravenna, Ohio, March 23d, 
1823, and in due time gradu- 
ated from the Western Re- 
servel College. He afterward 
studied law in his native town, 
and was admitted to the bar in 
1845. A few years later, he 
settled in St. Paul, but finally 
removed to St. Peter. Between 
the years 1S61 and 1S65 he 
served with honor in the State 
Senate. His death occurred 
February 26th, 1S69, but his 
memory lives as that of a noble ^Qy swift. 

man and ofiicer faithful to the trusts of his fellow citizens. 

Sully-Sibley Campaign. — In the summer of 1863, 

Gen. Sully commanding a large force of cavalry moved 
up the Missouri river, while Gen. Sibley with a regiment 
of cavalry, three of infantry, and two batteries of light 
artillery ascended the Minnesota. Both commands w^ere 
to meet at Minne Wakan,! or Devil's Lake, in North Da- 
kota; but it was hoped that the savage bands of Sioux 
who had the j^revious season fled to the northwest might 




154 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



be encountered and severely punished, thus preventing 
their return to the settlements. 

Sibley having learned of the whereabouts of the In- 
dians, left part of his troops in a fortified camp on the 
Sheyenne, and with the rest continued the pursuit. Sev- 
eral brisk engagements ensued near the Missouri Cotcaus, 
and the tribes, broken spirited by loss of lives and plunder, 
sought safety beyond the Missouri. Yet, at this very time 
small marauding parties had stealthily slipped through 
the lines of frontier fortifications, and were preying upon 
the sparse settlements of Minnesota. The famous Little 
Crow, who had thus ventured back, was shot by a young 
settler named Chauncy Lampson2 near one of the Scat- 
tered Lakes in the Big woods six miles from Hutchinson. 

Military Record of 1863. — The Minnesota regiments 
won marked distinction during this year. The 4th de- 
parted from Memphis on the ist of March, and after a series 
of movements by way of Yazoo Pass, Grand Gulf, and 
Port Gibson, took part in the battle of Raymond, the loth 
of May, and four days later, in that of Jackson. On the 
1 6th, it captured one hundred aud eighteen prisoners at 
the battle of Champion Hill, and on the 2 2d, having taken 
position in the rear of Vicksburg, Lieut.-Col. Tourtellotte 
commanding, it gallantly assisted in the assault which 
Gen. Grant had ordered should that day be made upon 
the enemy's works. 

The 5th Regiment, attached to the 15th Corps under 
Sherman, participated in several important movements of 
the campaign of Vicksburg and its culminating siege. In 
particular, it was active in the engagements at Jackson and 
the assault of May 22d. 

The ist Reo-iment was at the second battle of Fredricks- 



THE STATE. 



155 



burg, May 3d, and later hastened from Falmouth, Vir- 
ginia, to take part in the great conflict at Gettysburg, Penn- 
sylvania. Hancock's corps formed a curved line of battle 
from Cemetery Hill to Sugar Loaf Mountain, and this 
regiment w^as attached to Gibbon's division which held 
the very centre of the line. In the terrible onsets of July 
2d and 3d, bravest among the brave were these Min- 
nesotians, and many a mound on that consecrated field 
to-day tells the mute but eloquent story of their heroic 
deeds. Less than a hundred remained unscathed out of 
about three hundred thirty privates and ofiicers who in re- 
sponse to Hancock's despairing order threw themselves in 
a Balaklava-like charge against the whole force of Long- 
street's army. And yet, in the month of October, this shat- 
tered host was again in the forefront at Bristow Station, 
Virginia. 

The 2d Regiment, commanded by Col. George, on the 
19th of September, rendered active service at Chica- 
mauga, and, November 25th, helped to storm the enemy's 
works on the crest of Mission Ridge. 

In November, the 3d Regiment was ordered to Little 
Rock, Arkansas. 

But not alone in the South did the Minnesota troops 
show their fidelity and gain renown. This year the Inde- 
pendent Battalion of Cavah-y was stationed at Pembina; 
the 8th mfantry w^as also in garrison on the frontier; the 
6th, 7th, 9th, and loth infantr}', the 3d Battery, and the 
Mountain Rangers were with Sibley on the Indian expe- 
dition, and fought in the battles of Big Alound, Dead Buf- 
falo Lake, Stony Lake aud the Missouri, the 24th, 26th, 
28th, and 29th of July. 

In October, the 7th and loth were ordered to St. Louis. 



156 



HISTOY OF MINNESOTA. 



IV.— MILLER'S ADMINISTRATION. 



^i<g ^-K>^5<!^ -ro'OT'^ri>^ ^-g>^> OT^gyj^ 



Got. Miller. — Stephen Miller was chosen governor In 
the fall of 1S63, and was inaugurated January nth of the 
following year. He was born at Perry, Cumberland 
county, Pa., January yth, 1816. At one time he served as 

clerk of courts for Dauphin 
county, at another, was flour 
nispector of Philadelphia. In 
1S5S, he made Minnesota his 
future home. During the re- 
bellion, he served first as lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the 7th. For 
meritorious conduct in battle, 
he was commissioned brigadier- 
general, the 26th of October, 
1863. This brave old soldier 
and loyal governor, in whose 
GOV. MiLLEE. ^^^^ wcrc souic dark pages of 

misfortune, passed away from earth at Worthington, 
Nobles county, August iSth, 1S81. 

Military Record of 1864. — Eaily in this year, the 
war-scarred veterans of the regiments and batteries that 
had enlisted in tlie beginning of the struggle came home 
for a furlough, most of them having re-enlisted. 

The 1st Battery and the 2d, 3d, and 4th Regiments 
were veteranized in January, and the 5th Regiment in July. 
Two new regiments were organized this year, the 2d 
Cavalry in January and the nth Infantry in August. 

In January, the 5th Regiment took part in the disas- 
trous Red River expedition led by Gen. Banks, and fought 
at Ft. DeRussy in the movement against Shreveport. 




!»6axa>ia^»2J»a»i:>fc>M»^:>Mv^>i!>^^^ 



THE STATE. I57 

The 3d Regiment, moving southward from Little Rock 
with Gen. Steele's army to co-operate with Banks on the 
Red River, engaged March 30th in the battle of Fitz- 
hugh's Woods near Augusta. The next month it was 
ordered to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 

The Independent Cavalry was ordered in May to Ft. 
Abercrombie, Dakota, and remained in garrison there 
throughout the year. 

The gallant ist Regiment was mustered out in May, the 
remnant of what it had once been. Most of its survivors 
were formed into a body called the Infantry Battalion, and 
again joined the Army of the Potomac to add to their roll 
of honor such names as Petersburg, Plank Road, Deep 
Bottom, Ream's Station, and Hatcher's Run. 

The 6th Regiment, which had been ordered south to 
Helena, Arkansas, after the close of the Indian campaigns 
of 1863, was incorporated in June with the i6th Army 
Corps. The 7th, c)th, and loth Regiments were likewise 
at this time assigned to the same body. 

The 5th Regiment, commanded by Maj. Becht and be- 
longing to Hubbard's brigade, contended with the forces of 
Gen. Marmaduke at Lake Chicot, Arkansas. 

Parts of the 5th, yth, 9th, and loth Regiments, in the 
command of Gen. A. J. Smith, helped to defeat Forest at 
the battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 13th. After this, 
they fought at Tallahatchie, and pursued the retreating 
rebels under Price. 

Both the 2d Regiment and ist Battery were engaged in 
battles of the Atlanta campaign; the former at Resaca, 
June 14th, 15th, and 1 6th, and Kenesaw Mountain, June 
27th ; the latter at Kenesaw Mountain, and at Atlanta July 

22d. 



15S HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



In the North, the 2d Cavahy, Brackett's Cavahy, the 
3d l^attery, and 8th Regiment were with the Sully expe- 
dition in pursuit of the hostile Sioux. They participated 
in a fierce engagement with the enemy in the Bad Lands, 
Dakota, and took part in some skirmishing before the pur- 
suit was abandoned at the Yellowstone. It had been Sul- 
ly's purpose to proceed to Devil's Lake, where he had 
sought to make a junction with Sibley's troops the jDrevi- 
ous year; but it was reported that no enemy remained in 
that quarter. Moreover, his horses were jaded by the toil- 
some and fruitless expedition just ended. These reasons 
impelled him to break camp at Ft. Union, Montana, and 
order the return march. 

From the date of its organization to the end of the year, 
the nth Regiment was engaged in guarding railroads. 

After a series of movements through Missouri, the 5th 
Regiment was ordered to Nashville in September. 

In October, the 3d Regiment was ordered to Duvall's 
Bluff, Arkansas, where it remained until the close of the 
war. 

The 4th Regiment formed a portion of Gen. Corse's 
troops that routed the enemy under Gen. French in the 
severe contest of Altoona, October 15th. 

December 7th, the 8th Regiment in Gen. Milroy's com- 
mand, shared in the victory of the Cedars near Murfrees- 
boro. 

In the memorable contest of Nashville, December 15th 
and 1 6th, between the armies of Thomas and Plood, the 
2d Battery and all the regiments previouslv at Tupelo were 
again actively' engaged. Cols. Hubbard and Marshall, 
both commanding brigades, rendered such distinguished 
service in the great assault on the last day of the conflict 



THE STATE. 



'5^ 



that each was honored with the rank of brigadier-general. 

The 1st Battery and the 2d and 4th Regiments accom- 
panied Sherman on his march to the sea. 

Military Record of 1865. — In the months of March 
and April, the regiments mentioned as present at the bat- 
tle of Nashville were active in the siege of Mobile, notably 
in the attacks on Spanish Fort and Blakely. 

In January, the 8th Regiment with the rest of Scho- 
field's command, hitherto with Thomas in the West, was 
ordered by Gen. Grant to report at Wilmington and New 
Berne, North Carolina, and from thence to co-operate with 
Sherman at Goldsboro. 

Northward from Savannah with Sherman endeavoring 
to unite with Grant against Lee, strong and courageous 
came the Minnesota troops who had marched from Atlanta 
to the sea; and when Johnston surrendered April 26th, 
they went to Washington to fill an honored place in the 
line of the last grand review. 

The Infantry Batallion, too, the heroes in the first bat- 
tles for national unity, were fittingly present in that last 
great struggle with the Army of North Virginia which 
ended with Lee's surrender at Appomatox. 

The days of civil strife, so full of mournful and heroic 
deeds, were now at an end, and the tattered, war-stained 
baimers of the Minnesota troops ^vere furled forever. 
Twenty-five thousand and fifty-two, all told, they had 
numbered with their faces turned toward the foe. A few 
came home with bronzed cheeks and rugged frames ; some 
crippled and scarred; many weary and sick; while thou- 
sands slept in the quiet cemeteries of the State where loving 
hands had borne them, or perchance still on the desolate 
fields of conflict, far in the South, where to this day no eye 



i6o 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



has marked their place of rest, save the compassionate eye 
of the Father whose cause they fought in redeeming the 
brotherhood of man. 

Material Progress. — This administration, Hke the two 
preceding it, was not marked in the material advancement 
of the Commonwealth; it was rather a time of retrogression, 
the great massacre at home and the prolonged struggle in 
the South having depleted the State of men and means 
and brought on other disastrous results which only the 
patient labor of years could heal. 



v.— MARSHALL'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. 



Gov. Marshall. — William Ralney Marshall, the fifth 
governor of Minnesota, was born October 17th, 1825, in 

Boone county, Missouri. His 
early ancestors were Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterians who settled 
near Carlisle Pennsylvania. 
The family moved to Bourbon 
county, Kentucky, soon after 
the Revolution. His grand- 
fathers both served in the War 
for Independence, and his fa- 
ther In that of 18 1 2. The fam- 
ily removed to Quincy, Illinois, 
in 1830, where W. R. received 
GOV. MARSHALL. ^ common school education. 

At the age of sixteen, Marshall went to the Galena lead 
mines with his brother, and having acquired some capital 
there, settled In the St. Croix valley, Minnesota, in 1847. 




yy]fl^3i:^*^9^ 



THE STATE. l6l 



He was elected to the first Wisconsin state legislature, but 
on account of trouble arising from a change of boundaries, 
was not allowed to take his seat. Two years later, he went 
to St. Anthony Falls, and started the first store in what is 
now Minneapolis. While engaged as a surveyor, he plat- 
ted St. Anthony and part of the west side, the Minneapolis 
of that day. For more than ten years subsequent to 
1851, he was successively engaged at St. Paul in mercan- 
tile affairs, banking, and newspaper publishing. 

When President Lincoln called for 600,000 more volun- 
teers in 1S62, Marshall enlisted and immediately began 
active service in the Sioux campaigns, after which he was 
ordered to the South. His record was brilliant, and promo- 
tion rapid until he ranked as a brevet brigadier-general. 
In September, 1S65, the Republican state convention nomi- 
nated him for governor, he being the choice of the soldier 
element. He was elected by a large majority over his 
Democratic opponent, H. M. Rice. 

Administration Notes. — Gov. Marshall in his brief 
inaugural gave special jorominence to the needs of the 
educational and charitable institutions of the State. The 
founding of the First Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, 
the erection of buildings for the Institute of the Deaf, 
Dumb and Blind at Faribault, and for the Normal School 
at Winona, were secured. 

Grants of land were obtained from Congress for the 
Southern Minnesota and the Hastings & Dakota rail- 
roads. Moreover, the right of the State to five hundred 
thousand acres of land for internal improvements, which 
had been overlooked by Marshall's predecessors, was estab- 
lished through the governor's influence. He was also the 
first executive after the practical repudiation of the railroad 



l62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



debt in iS6i to urge its liquidation, proposing that the 
above lands should be devoted to that purpose. 

The recognition of the right of the State to a second 
grant of two townships of land for the endowment of the 
University, a right implied in the organic act, was pressed 
before the departments in Washington. 

The word " white " in Sec. i. Article VII, which relates 
to the elective franchise, was stricken from the Constitu- 
tion November 3d, 1S6S, after having been three times 
persistently brought forward by the governor somewhat 
at the peril of his re-election. 

/ 

VI.— MARSHALL'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. 

Ke-election. — Marshall was re-elected by an increased 
majority in 1S67 over Judge Charles E. Flaudreau. 

Reform School. — By the special recommendation of 
the governor, the institution previously known as the 
House of Refuge was taken under the full control of the 
State and entitled the Minnesota Reform School. 

Capital Removal. — In 1S69, a bill passed the legisla- 
ture for the removal of the state capital to Lake Kandiyohi 
in the county of that name; but it was vetoed on the 
ground that the new site was not central to population — 
and probably never would be ; neither had the people been 
consulted in the matter. The future proved the wisdom 
of the veto. 

Northern Pacific Railroad. — In the above year, a con- 
tract was made with the house of Jay Cook & Co. by virtue 
of which they became the financial agents of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad. This gave the comj^any the thirty mil- 



THE STATE. 163 



lion dollars that started the road and formed the basis of 
its completion. 

MarshaU'S Last Message. — Gov. Marshall in his last 
message thus sums up his administrations: — 

" During that period, the population of the State has 
almost doubled, its railroads have quadrupled. Its educa- 
tional funds and facilities have increased manifold. Its 
noble public charities — the highest mark of our civiliza- 
tion — have most of them been founded, and all of them 
advanced to high positions of usefulness. The resources 
of the State, by the half million acres of internal im- 
provement lands and other liberal grants for important 
railroads, have been greatly augmented. I am profoundly 
grateful to the Providence that connected me with the 
State government during so interesting and prosperous 
a period. 

" I have practiced somewhat the maxim, that 'They are 
governed best who are governed least.' I am profoundly 
impressed with the belief, that evil lies in the direction of 
too much legislation and governing, rather than too little. 
The fewer, simpler and more stable the laws the better. 
The less interference the better, with the ever present 
natural laws that govern individuals and society." 

VII.— AUSTIN'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. 

Gov. Austin, — Horace Austin was born October t5th, 
183 1, at Canterbury, Connecticut. He received a common 
school education, after which, for a time, he worked at a 
trade. He studied law at Augusta, Maine, then, in the 
year 1854, removed to the West, finally settling at St. 



164 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 




Peter, Minnesota. In 1863, as a captain of cavalry, he took 
active part in the Sibley campaign on the Msssouri. The 

following year he became judge 
of the Sixth Judicial District. 
In the fall of 1S69, he was elect- 
ed govenor by about 2,000 ma- 
jority, and the following Jan- 
uary assumed the duties of the 
executive office. 

Great Civil Topics.— There 

was much excellent advice to 
the legislatui-e in Gov. Austin's 
inaugural. He advocated,among 
other things, a revision of the 
uuv. AUSTIN. criminal code,i whose intricacies 

often led to injustice. Then, too, he thought such residue 
of swamp lands2 as should exist after present grants were 
satisfied ought to be expended in founding public school 
libraries. But we are to look to his message of 1871 for a 
wise and earnest review of questions agitating the people, 
many of which became of grave import in the next decade, 
and some of which still remain as a heritage for future citi- 
zens. They should for both reasons be carefully noted by 
the student of civil affairs. 

He proposed to divide the internal improvement lands 
among the counties of the State, to be used for such pur- 
poses in accord with their title as the citizens might elect; 
or, instead of making the gift direct, to sell the lands at a 
prescribed price and allow the counties to use the interest 
on the permanent fund, so created, for such specific works 
as building bridges and making highways. 

He advocated the improvement of Duluth harbor, bv 



THE STATE. 



165 



the general government, on account of the great future 
vakie it would have as a shipping port, especially for the 
products of the State. 

He asked for suitable legislation to prevent railroads 
from extorting unjusti tariffs. 

He regretted excessive special legislation ;. that is, such 
as provided for individual schemes, the incorporating of 
villages, and many other things suitably provided for by 
statute. Such matters retarded and often crowded out 
more important legislation; for example, appropriation 
bills were left over to be acted upon in the final days of 
the session, thus giving the executive no time to fitly weio-h 
their merits. 

He recommended that elections of congressional and 
state officers should be arranged to come in the same year, 
in order to calm occasionally the political strife that con- 
stantly vexed the people in the midst of their private 
affairs. 

He recommended, further, the calling of a convention 
ro draft a new constitution in place of the one existino-, 
which he considered both natively weak and outgrown by 
the needs of the State. It was wanted, he said,— 

Tst. " To forbid local or special legislation on many sub- 
jects—including the creation of corporations and the sale 
or mortgaging of the real estate of minors. 

2d. " To prevent the granting to any corporation, asso- 
ciation or person, any special or exclusive privilege, im- 
munity, or franchise. 

3d. " To limit local taxation. 

4th. « To restrict municipal indebtedness. 

5th. " To prevent the incurring of municipal indebted- 
ness in aid of any railroad or private corporation. 



l66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



6th. " To regulate and restrict railways. 

7th. " To abolish the grand jury system. 

8th. "For many other reasons not herein mentioned." 

University Lands.— During the year 1870, Congress 
finally granted the two additional townships of land for the 
endowment of the University, thus placing it once more 
on a firm foundation; for the previous grant was long ere 
this almost entirely spent to pay an indebtedness incurred 
through early mismanagement. 

Internal Improvement Lands. — These lands, already 

spoken about as a gift to the State in Marshall's time, un- 
der a congressional act of 1S41, had not been appropriated 
to the support of public schools as in the case of like grants 
in other states. So the legislature in 187 1, heedless of good 
advice and precedent given above, apportioned them among 
several railroad corporations that sought to obtain them. 

Gov. Austin vetoed the bill. This led to an amendment 
of the Constitution November 5th, 1S73, by which the leg- 
islature was restrained from appropriating the proceeds 
arising from the sale of these lands unless the enactment 
were first ratified by a majority of the popular electors. 

Administration Notes. — Nothing else of great moment 
attracted public attention during this administration, save a 
steady and rapid growth in the Commonwealth. This 
was marked ui various ways: railroad construction was 
pushed with vigor; a great tide of immigration set in; real 
estate increased rapidly in value ; and everywhere the peo- 
ple, except certain of the producing classes, seemed content- 
ed and prosperous. 



THE STATE. 167 



VIII— AUSTIN'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. 

Re-election. — Gov. Austin was re-elected in 1S71 by a 
majority of about sixteen thousand, showing the firm posi- 
tion he had gained in pubHc favor. 

Biennial Sessions Proposed. — The governor in his 

annual message of 1S72 made an appeal for biennial ses- 
sions of the legislature on the ground that the necessity for 
frequent meetings which arose in the early history of the 
State, when everything was in a formative condition, no 
longer existed. 

Amendments Adopted. — Several amendments of mo- 
ment were made to the Constitution in 1S73 and 1873. 

One provided for increasing the public debt to maintain 
the charitable institutions of the State in a more effective 
manner. 

Another prohibited any village, city, or county from 
granting a bonus beyond ten per cent, of its property val- 
uation to any railroad asking aid. This valuation was to 
be determined by the assessment last made before the obli- 
gation was incurred. An amendment of later years re- 
duced the per cent, to five. The restriction was much 
needed ; for there had always been, as now, a tendency on 
the part of the people to magnify the benefits to be derived 
from rendering such aid. 

Perhaps the most important of the list was one prescrib- 
ing the sale of internal improvement lands at the rate ob- 
tained for school lands; the investing of the funds so ob- 
tained in United States and Minnesota bonds ; and, as else- 
where said, forbidding the appropriation of the funds with- 
out the consent of the people. 



l68 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Seeger's Impeachment. — A committee of the House 

came before the Senate in the legislative session of the 
spring of 1S73 accusing the state treasurer, William See- 
ger, of making unlawful use of the public funds. The 
Senate convened as a court of impeachment and adjourned 
to meet May 20th. At that time Seeger pleaded guilty, 
but claimed that he had not acted with corrupt intent. The 
Senate, however, found him guilty of all the charges, and 
disqualified him for holding or enjoying any office of honor, 
profit, or trust within the State. 

The (grangers. — The farmers had for a long time com- 
plained bitterly, and with much reason, against the exces- 
sive tariffs and discriminations of railroad companies in 
transporting grain and other products; also against buyers 
because of unjust methods in grading wheat. Soon a cry 
was raised against cor^^orations in general; this was far 
less just, and but another version of the larger and ever 
present controversy between capital and labor. 

The farmers organized " Granges," or clubs, for the pur- 
pose of mutual protection. In selling products and pur- 
chasing farm imj^lements and household supplies, they 
sought to deal with manufacturers and wholesale merchants 
without the aid of agents and retailers, who for obvious 
reasons were called " Middle Men." About this time the 
movement reached its height, then quickly subsided be- 
cause of internal dissensions, visionary methods, and the 
intriguing of politicians. This result was a source of re- 
gret to many, who thought the " Granges," aside from a 
possible redress of grievances, deserved to live by reason 
of their social features. 



THE STATE. 



169 



IX.— DAVIS'S ADMINISTRATION. 



Gov. Dayis. — Cushman K. Davis was born in the town 
of Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, on the i6th 
day of June, 1S3S. In August of that year, his parents 
removed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where in tlie course of 
a few years he entered Carrol 
College. Still later, he entered 
the senior year of the classical 
course in the University of 
Michigan, and graduated in 
1857. -^^ then studied law in 
the Office of Alexander W. 
Randall, afterwards noted as 
a governor of Wisconsin and 
Postmaster General. During 
the Rebellion, he. served from 
1863 to iS6q. as first-lieutenant 
of Company B, zSth Wisconsin 
Infantry; then, much impaired gov. davis, 

in health, he came to St. Paul and took ujd the practice of 
his piofession. In 1867, he was elected to the state legis- 
lature, and from 1S68 to 1S73 was United States District 
Attorney for Minnesota. In the latter year he was elected 
governor. 

Railroad Legislation . — Gov Davis thus speaks of the 
railroad legislation of his time : — 

" The most important political event of my administra- 
tion was undoubtedly the culmination of the controversy 
which had been carried on for some years between the 
railroad companies and the people, on the question of the 
legislative power to control the former in the performance of 




'H°=" *-"<!. Ci^> 



lyo HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



their duties towards the jDubhc, especially in regard to fix- 
ing rates for transportation. I had long before my election, 
come to the conclusion that the assumjDtion by the corpor- 
ations of an inviolable privilege to do as they pleased in 
these respects was full of danger to the rights of the peo- 
ple, and that the unity and vigor of action which is always 
the result of great consolidated financial power, managed 
by the best executive talent, too often depraved in its use, 
could be encountei'ed successfully by nothing weaker than 
the people in their political capacity. Long before these 
questions became at all political, I had taken advanced 
ground on the subject, but it was then so much a matter 
of speculative thought, that I little supposed that within a 
few years it would fall to my lot as the chief magistrate of 
the State to recommend and enforce legislative remedies 
which, when so recently proposed, had becen scouted as 
the I'hapsodies of a visionary. But great reforms move 
rapidly, and as the result, perhaps the reward of my posi- 
tion upon these questions, I received the nomination for 
governor, and was elected by a majority of about five 
thousand. ' 

"At the first session of the legislature during my term, 
the movement for the redress of these evils took political 
shape. These evils were exorbitant charges, discrimina- 
tions against and in favor of localities, an arbitrary liaising 
of rates, and general defiance by the companies of State 
control. At the session of 1874, a statute was passed for- 
bidding these exactions, and asserting the power of the 
State to its extremest degree. By its provisions the gov- 
ernor was required to appoint three commissioners, who 
had the povs^er to fix the rates of the various companies 
within the State, and severe penalties were denounced 



THE STATE. 171 



against the companies for refusing to comply with them. 
I appointed as commissioners John A. Randall, A. J. Ed- 
gerton, and Ex-Gov. W. R. Marshall, who addressed 
themselves to their difficult task with great Zealand ability, 
and thoroughly performed it. 

"The contention of the railroad companies had been that 
their charters from the State were in the nature of a fran- 
chise which authorized them to fix the rates and manage 
their vast properties at their own discretion, and that this 
franchise was a contract, under the decision of the Supreme 
Court in the Dartmouth College case,i which could not be 
impaired by legislation. 

" But about this time the Suj^reme Court of the United 
States decided in what were known as the "granger cases."a 
one of which went up from Minnesota, and was conducted 
on behalf of the State by Mr. W. P. Clough with great 
ability, that the functions of railroad corporations were pub- 
lic and not entirely private in their character — were to a 
certain extent delegations of the power which all states 
necessarily exercise in regard to public ways, and that for 
these reasons the provisions of the Federal Constitution 
which forbids any state passing any law impairing the ob- 
ligation of a contract does not apply, and that the power of 
the states to regulate and control the railroad companies in 
the respect above indicated, by legislation, is undoubted. 

"The companies of course were obliged to accept this de- 
cision, the agitation upon that subject ended, and the result 
was the establishment of a power controlled by the State 
which can be so readily aj^plied when necessary that many 
of the evils which formerly oppressed the people were en- 
tirely remedied, and the companies were compelled to be 
cautious and more reasonable in their operations." 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



The Locusts. — For several years the western and south- 
western portions of the State were afflicted by locusts,! the 
plague reaching its height in 1875. Gov. Davis speaks of 
it as follows: — 

" This visitation became most severe just at the time when 
the wheat fields were giving the fullest promise of bounte- 
ous product. The wnole country west of Blue Earth 
County and south of the Minnesota i^iver was laid waste. 
The agents of destruction moved in clouds which darkened 
the sun and descended like rain upon the soil. The growth 
of thousands of acres would be destroyed in a few hours, 
and the locusts would then rise and seek new fields. 

"The regions thus laid waste were inhabited by people 
who, generally, had no resources except from their crops. 
Many of them were in debt with their property under mort- 
gage. The farmer could not pay the country merchant, 
and the latter could not therefore pay his own creditors. 
It was not long before the question of subsistence pressed 
for immediate solution. I was clearly of the opinion that 
it was of controlling importance to sustain these people and 
prevent an exodus from the State, which would have drawn 
back the line of our frontier over a hundred miles and made 
each member of an exiled population a herald of our af- 
flictions. I accordingly appealed to the public for aid. In 
this way thousands of dollars were raised and the money 
expended through local committees of the afflicted regions. 

"The devastation was repeated in 1875, but after that year 
was gradually withdrawn. With the disappearance of 
these visits confidence revived, and immigration began. 
There were not wanting those who denounced my action 
as tending to advertise the disadvantages of the State. 
These gentlemen were practical expounders of the modern 



THE STATE. I73 



laissezfaire^ doctrine of political economy, which to my 
mind is in such cases a contradiction of the higher and bet- 
ter golden rule." 

Blue Earth county nearly emptied its treasury in behalf 
of the grasshopper sufferers, by paying a bounty to those 
who caught the pests. Men, women, and children engaged 
in the futile attempt of extermination. For this purpose, 
many devices were used ; the simplest were bags with 
mouths held open with hoops or triangles attached to han- 
dles like those of a hoe. Holding the hoop vertically, with 
its lower side close to the ground, the operator would run 
for a short distance. The air inflated the bags, and the 
young grasshoppers, rising from the ground in myriads, 
were caught within. A quart or two at a time were drop- 
ped from the untied pointed end of the bag into grain 
sacks. These when full were taken to the receiving ofH- 
cers, stationed in the towns, and delivered at a stated price 
per bushel. The authorities usually had the grasshoppers 
buried in trenches. In some cases several hundred bushels 
were buried in one trench. 

In the next administration. Gov. Pillsbury was very ac- 
tive in behalf of the farmers. He visited the afflicted com- 
munities to see for himself what could be done for the peo- 
ple. The result wis legislative action to issue loans of seed 
to those in need; besides, the State refunded to the coun- 
ties in part what they had expended in bounties. 

Administration Notes. — There were no marked po- 
litical events during this administration besides railroad leg- 
islation and the addition of certain amendments to the Con- 
stitution. The latter planned for the division of the State 
into judicial districts and the election of judges therefor; 
investment of funds growing out of the sale of school 



174 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



lands; and conferring the elective franchise upon women in 
the case of school elections. 

The general financial depression of 1873 affected the 
material progress of Minnesota. The Northern Pacific 
was bankrupt, and the Manitoba system was under fore- 
closure. The locust plague added still more to the mon- 
etary stringency, and retarded immigration. Surely 
through much tribulation, if at all, was the Commonwealth 
destined to assert its greatness. 



X.— PILLSBURY'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. 



Gov. Pillsbury. — John S. Pillsbury was born July 
29th, 1 828, in the little town of Sutton, New Hampshire. 
He was educated in the public schools, but when a lad of 

sixteen entered upon a mercan- 
tile life. At the early age of 
twenty-one, he formed a busi- 
ness partnership with Walter 
Harrimon who was afterward 
governor of New Hampshire. 
In 1865, he removed to St. 
Anthony, Minnesota, and soon 
became one of its most active 
citizens. During nine legisla- 
tive sessions, he represented 
Hennepin county in the state 
senate, and for t^venty years 
has served as a regent of the University. In 1875, he was 
elected over Buell by a majority of nearly twelve thousand, 
and was inaugtirated January 7th, 1876. 




GOV. PILLSBURY. 



THE STATE. 1 75 



Status of the Railroad Bonds. — The bonds which 

the people in territorial days had been so anxious to 
grant, at this time seemed to be irretrievably repudiated; 
but Gov. Pillsbury took the initiative in the last great 
struggle made to secure their payment, by apjoealing 
strongly to the honor of the citizens who desired to pre- 
serve the good name of the State. 

Bond Settlement Rejected. — The legislature of 1877 

passed a bill looking to the settlement of the railroad bonds 
by an appropriation of the internal imj^rovement lands for 
that purpose; but at a special election in June, the people 
rejected the plan by an overwhelming majority. 

Constitutional Amendments.— At the two regular 

fall elections held in this administration, four amendments 
to the Constitution were adopted. One permitted the gov- 
ernor to apj^rove or disappi'ove of appropriation bills by 
items. Another instituted a board, consisting of the sec- 
retary of state and judges of both the Supreme and Dis- 
tricts Courts, to canvass the returns in the election of state 
executive officers. A third in case of disqualification of 
Supreme Court judges provided for filling their places with 
those of the District Court. The fourth forbade the use 
of school funds for the support of sectarian schools. 

XI.— PILLSBURY'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. 

Re-election.— Gov. Pillsbury was re-elected in 1S77 by 
a majority of more than seventeen thousand over Banning. 

Review of June Election . — The heart of the consci- 
entious governor was painfully stirred by the action of the 
people in the preceding June election, yet his confidence in 



176 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the honesty of their motives was not shaken as this review 
of the bond question before the legislature of 1S7S shows: — 
"The measure proposed for this purpose by the last leg- 
islature, and submitted to the people in June last, was re- 
jected, as you are aware, by an overwhelming popular 
vote. This resulted, I am persuaded, from a prevalent 
misapprehension respecting the real nature and provisions 
of the proposed plan of adjustment, I should be sorry, 
indeed, to be forced to the conviction that the people by 
this act intended other than their disapproval of the par- 
ticular plan of settlement submitted to them. For in my 
opinion no public calamity, no visitation of grasshoppers, 
no wholesale destruction or insidious pestilence, could pos- 
sibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our State as the delib- 
erate repudiation of her solemn obligations. It would be 
a confession more damaging to the character of a govern- 
ment of the people than the assault of its worst enemies. 
With the loss of public honor little could remain worthy 
of preservation. Assuming, therefore, as I gladly do, that 
this vote of the people indicated a purpose not to repudiate 
the debt itself, but simply to condemn the proposed plan 
for its payment, I should be happy to co-operate in any 
practicable measure looking to an honorable and final ad- 
justment of this vexed question." 

Page's Impeacliment. — The senate organized as a 
court of impeachment March 6th, 1S78, to try Judge Sher- 
man Page, of the loth Judicial District., against whom 
articles had been preferred accusing him of arbitrary and 
abusive conduct in his treatment of the grand jury and offi- 
cers of the court. The senate acquitted him at the close of 
an adjourned session Jvnie 2Sth. 



THE STATE. I77 

XII. PILLSBURY'S 3d ADMINISTRATION. 

Second Re-election. — During the political campaign of 
1S79, ^ lively discussion was aroused relative to the advisa- 
bility of nominating Governor Pillsbury for a third term. 
It was thought by many to do so would be to establish a 
harmful precedent. But so meritorious had his official acts 
appeared to the peo^^le that he was again re-elected in 
1S79, his inajority over Edmund Rice being more than 
fifteen thousand. 

First Insane Hospital Burned. — The night of No- 
vember 15th, iSSo, the First Hospital for the Insane, at St. 
Peter, was partially destroyed by fire. Twenty-seven pa- 
tients perished and many others escaped from their keepers. 

Burning of the Capitol, — On the morning of March 
1st, 1 88 1, the Capitol of Minnesota presented to the be- 
holder's eye nothing but a mass of smouldeing ruins. At 
nine o'clock the previous evening warning flames shot from 
roof and dome. The alarm was given, but nothing could 
be done to save the building Both houses of the legisla- 
ture wei^e in session, and when all chance of escape through 
the usual avenues was speedily cut off, intense excitement 
prevailed among the members. Happily, a few moments 
before the ceiling of the senate chamber fell, the senators 
found means of exit through a small window opening from 
the cloak room into the main stairway. The representa- 
tives were equally fortunate in escaping a terrible death. 

The state library and many valuable relics of the His- 
torical Society were completely destroyed, but the books 
of the latter were for the most part saved in a damaged 
condition. 



178 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Final Settlement of Bonds. — Selah Chamberlain, in 
behalf of himself and a majority of the railroad bondhold- 
ers, offered to make a settlement, taking new bonds of half 
the face value of the old. The legislature, March 2d, 1881, 
enacted that a tribunal should decide whether the legrisla- 
ture alone had power to make a settlement without appeal- 
ing to the people. Finally, under a provision of the act, 
the tribunal was composed of district judges; but the Su- 
preme Court issued a writ restraining them from taking 
action, and not only decided that the act forming the trib- 
Tanal was unlawful, but that the constitutional act of i860 
which called for a popular ratification of any plan of set- 
tlement that the legislature might devise was also null and 
void. In short, the legislature alone had the power of set- 
tlement in its own hands. Governor Pillsbury called an 
extra session of the legislature to meet October, 1882, and 
this vexed question of generations was at last eliminated 
from the affairs of state by the acceptance of Chamberlain's 
offer. 

Cox's Impeachment. — E. St. Julien Cox, during the 
legislative session of 1S81, was brought before the senate, 
then sitting as a court of impeachment, the charge of con- 
duct unbecoming his judicial position having been preferred 
against him, said conduct resulting from intemperate habits. 
He was accounted guilty and deposed from his judgeship, 

Constitutional Changes. — It must have been noticed 
ere this that many amendments, adopted from time to time, 
greatly changed the character of the Constitution, and rem- 
edied some of those evils of which Governor Austin com- 
plained in his day. This administration saw still further 
changes. Special legislation was forbidden in eleven par- 
ticulars. Definite provision was made for levying state and 



THE STATE. 



179 



municipal taxes in general, and to joay for public improve- 
ments of a particular character. Finally, the swamp lands 
were devoted to the support of the common schools, those 
of higher learning, and other state institutions. 

XIII.— HUBBARD'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. 

Governor Hubbard. — Lucius F. Hubbard w^as born at 
Troy, New York, January 26th, 1S36. His father, Charles 
F. Hubbard, sheriff of Rensselaer county, died three years 
later, and Lucius was given 
over to the care of an aunt at 
Chester, Vermont. At the age 
of twelve he went to Granville, 
New York, where he attended 
an academy for three years. He 
then began an apprenticeship 
at Poultney , Vermont, but com- 
pleted the trade, that of tin- 
smith, at Salem, New York 

In 1854, he removed to Chi- 
cago, at which place he con- 
tinued to work at his trade. All QQy_ hubbabd. 
of these years of manual labor, too, were years of study, 
and it is not surprising, perhaps, to find him in 1857 forsak- 
ing the work bench for the editorial chair. At that time, 
he established the Republicait at Red Wing, Minnesota. 
The following year, he was elected register of Goodhue 
county, and in 1861 was nominated as the Republican can- 
didate for the state senate, being defeated in the subse- 
quent election by Judge McClure, who had a majority of 
but seven. He immediately entered the army as a private 
in the 5th Minnesota, but U2:)on its reorganization became 




iSo HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



its lieutenant-colonel, from which time his military success 
was marked, as elsewhere recorded. 

After the close of the war, he engaged extensively in 
milling operations and railroad construction, and during the 
four years subsequent to 1S72 served in the state senate. 
In the fail of iSSi, he was nominated by the Republicans 
for governor, and in the election outstripped the Demo- 
cratic candidate. Gen. R. W. Johnson, by a majority of 
nearly twenty-eight thousand. 

Completion of the Northern Pacific. — In the early 

fall of 1SS3, the problem of centuries, the finding of a 
northwest passage, met with a practical solution. To be 
sure, the stately argosies of the nations, richly freighted with 
the products of India, could not even now, more than in 
the days of the early navigators, trace a continuous internat- 
ional highway of American inland seas and rivers; but the 
iron bands of the Northern Pacific at last stretched across 
the broad plains and lofty mountains of the West so that 
the swift messengers of steam could speed from sea to sea. 
The event was celebrated at Saint Paul and Minneapolis. 
There were those present who but a few years before had 
seen the wild deer leaping where they now saw thousands 
of people pouring through the costly triumphal arches 
spanning the commercial streets of two great cities. 
The President of the United States and dignitaries from 
European nations graced the occasion with their presence. 

Biennial Sessions Adopted. — Nothing of a very marked 

political character occurred during this administration save 
the amending of the Constitution to prescribe biennial ses- 
sions of the legislature and otherwise alter the tenure of 
ofiice in state and county. 

Material Progress. — In respect to this administration, 



l82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Gov. Hubbard thus speaks: — 

" The material progress of the State was very marked 
in many respects. In population, wealth, and the develop- 
ment of all the industries of our people, Minnesota made 
a decided advance during 1SS3 and 1SS3. The extension 
of our railroad system, particularly the completion of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, gave a decided Impetus to our 
commercial centres. The adoption of more diversified 
methods Infused new life into our agricultural interests, and 
with large accessions to our population, and active capital, 
all industrial pursuits felt the Inspiration of a healthy and 
substantial progress." 

XIV.— HUBBARD'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. 

Hubbard's Re-election.— In the fall of 18S3, Gov .Hub- 
bard was re-elected to the executive position. It was a time 
of happy auspices In the history of the Commonwealth, 
when the citizens could look back over the records of a 
wonderful past and forward to the great but sure fruitions 
of a near future. 

Economic Growth. — During the three years of this ad- 
ministration, every conservative prophecy made at Its 
beginning touching the economic welfare of the people has 
been more than fulfilled. 

The Industries of agriculture and dairying have Increased 
greatly In the Intelligence of the methods by which they 
are carried on; and the area of country devoted to these 
pursuits has been enlarged by thousands of acres once held 
by speculators, railroad corporations, and as parts of the 
public domain. 

Manufacturing centres have grown rapidly in population 
and the number of their industries. 



184 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Necessarily keeping pace with both these lines of ad- 
vancement, commercial life has moved vigorously in old 
directions and opened many new ones. In short, Gov. 
Hubbard's words in reference to his first administration 
might well be repeated here with emphasis. 

PuWiC Institutions. — But a surer index of what the 
final civilization of a people is to be than any gross meas- 
urement of progress in wealth, is the development of those 
public institutions which are the children as it were of the 
citizens' intellect and heart. In these years, for example, 
schools of every grade have multiplied in number and effi- 
ciency, and the educational system is quickly shaping itself 
to provide for the highest ideals of life. Public charities 
also have flourished, and to their number has been added a 
home at Owatonnafor indigent children. 

Civic Problems. — Yet, in the midst of this general 
prosperity, particular forms of discontent have gained 
strength among the people and assumed the shape of great 
civic problems. 

First of all, the producing classes have an active associa- 
tion called the Farmers' Alliance whose purposes are simi- 
lar to those of the old Grange, but the new organization 
promises to be far more powerful than the old. 

Labor, too, stands more strongly intrenched than ever 
before against the exactions of capital, and indeed in some 
cases has itself become the party of imwise encroachment 
on human rights. 

Another class of citizens, thinking that the very root of 
our social and political troubles lies in the wide-spread habit 
of intemperance, j^ropose to exercise their elective franchise 
in prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicants. 

However, none of these forms of civil agitation need be 



THE STATE. 



185 



viewed with alarm as elements of permanent discord, but 
rather as means which in spite of human unfairness born 
of passion will surely bring about wholesome reforms. 

XV.— McGILL'S ADMINISTRATION. 

Got. McGill. — Andrew R. McGill, the nominee and can- 
didate-elect of the Republican party in the fall of 1 886, was 
born at the old home of his paternal ancestry in Crawford 
county, Pa., February 19th, 
1840. His grandfather was a 
veteran of the Revolution, and 
from him and his own father 
he inherited the simple pleas- 
ures and rugged toil of a farmer 
boy's life. Studious in habit, 
and literary in his tastes, he 
sought and received the educa- 
tional advantages of a village 
academy. When a young man 
of twenty, he began the life of 
a teacher in the vicinity of Cov- 
ington, Kentucky. After the 
breaking out of the Rebellion, he removed to St. Peter, 
Minnesota, and continued teaching. In 1862 he enlisted 
in the 9th Regiment, but was discharged a year later on 
account of ill-health. He was admitted to the bar in 186S. 
For the twenty-three years just past his energies have been 
expended in the various positions of editor, publisher, clerk 
of the district court, governor's private secretary, and in- 
surance commissioner. 

Here this history rests at the dawn of the fifteenth state 
administration and the election of the tenth gdvernor. 




/*reji&v6^rtSji 



GOV. MCGILL. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



KEY TO PRONUNCIATION. 



a, as in fate. 

5, as in hSve. 

a, as in fate, but briefer. 

a, as in far. 

a, as in all. 

a, mute, or as ti in Qs. 

a, as in air. 

a, mute, or as ti in btit. 

e, as in eve. 

6, as in met. 

e, mute, or as ti in tis. 

e, as in ere. 

^, as ii in late. 

^, as e in there. 

i, as in it. 

i, as e in mete. 

o, as in note. 

6, as in 5dd, 

o, as in prove. 

u,asin use. 

ti, as in btit. 

A, as in flrge. 

V, as in pull. 

u, French u see Webster's Die, p. 1682, note 5. 

y, as in rude. 

g, as in get. 

g, as in gem. 

° degree of latitude and longitude. 

' acute or primary accent. 
^ grave or secondary accent. 
' chief primary accent, or heavy. 

187 



DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 

Physical Features. 

I. After due account has been made of race characteristics, 
it may safely be said that the physical features of a country are a 
great factor in shaping its history ; for example, they determine 
the occupations of the people; occupations pursued for generations 
develop certain mental traits; finally these mental traits determine 
channels of national life. 

Position and Surface. 

I. To gain some idea of the variations in elevation, the reader 
is referred to the table of the same given in another part of the 
appendix. 

Rivers. 

I. There are many fine water powers upon these streams. 
The largest yet developed are at St. Anthony Falls and St. Cloud. 

The Dakotas. 

1. Dakota (Dah'ko-tah). Allied, united; name applied to the 
confederation of tribes now called Sioux. 

2. Santees. Correct form, hanyati (Ee-san'yah-tee). Dwell- 
ers by Knife Lake ; the same lake is now called Mille Lacs. Neill 
says: "It is asserted by Dakotah missionaries now living, that 
this name was given to the lake because the stone from which 
they manufactured the knife {isan) was here obtained." 

3. Mississippi. Great and long river. See Hennepin, note 8. 

4. Yanktons. Correct form, Ihanktotiwan (Ee-han'kton-wan). 
End-dwellers, There is also a French form ; namely, Yanktonais 
(Ee-han'kton-wan-na). Little End-dwellers. 

5. Minnesota. The explorer Nicollet says: "The adjective 
Sotah is of difficult translation. The Canadians translated it by a 
pretty equivalent word, brouille, perhaps more properly rendered 
in English by blear. I have entered upon this explanation because 
the word Sotah really means neither clear nor turbid, as some 
authors have asserted, its true meaning being readily found in the 



igO HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Sioux expression /^A-/a-5c/a^, blear-eyed." Neillsays: "The name 
is a compound Dakotah word. This nation called the Missouri 
Mhmeshoshay, muddy water, and this stream Minnesota. The 
precise signification of Sotah is difficult to express. Some writers 
have said it means clear, Schoolcraft bluish green, others turbid. 
From the fact that the word signifies neither white nor blue, but 
the peculiar appearance of the sky on certain days, the Historical 
Society publications define Minnesota to mean the sky-tinted 
water, which is certainly poetic, and according to Gideon H. 
Pond, one of the best Dakotah scholars, correct." 
Of course, the State was named after the river. 

6. Teetons. Correct form, Teionwan (tee'ton-wan). Prairie- 
dwellers. 

7. Lac qui Parle flSk-ki-parl). The lake that speaks. It was 
so called by the French in translating the Indian word iyedan. 
Some say the Indians named it on account of an echo — or because 
they heard voices but saw no people when they went there first. 

8. Big Stone Lake. Evidently so named on account of the 
many large boulders lying on its shores and bluffs. 

9. Assiniboine (Ss-sin'i-boine). Correct form, Assiniboanes. 
''Their own distinctive name is never used; the neighboring 
Algonquin tribes called them Assinipawlak, Stone warriors, as 
some infer from the nature of the country near the Lake of the 
Woods." — American Encyclopedia. 

Another authority says the name means the people who roast 
something on stones, because these people roast their meat on 
red-hot stones. 

10. lowas (i'o-was). English form for the French Ayavois, 
which in turn was an attempt to pronounce the Dakota word 
lyakhba. It means Sleepy ones. 

Long before the days of the voyageurs, it is said, the Yanktons 
lived upon the banks of the Red River of the North. One of their 
noted warriors was killed in the progress of a feud. His relatives 
retaliated, and the feud spread from family to family until the 
tribal bond was broken, and the smaller faction of a thousand 
lodges fled from the stronger and formed a lasting alliance with 
one of the Algic races, the Kristenos or Crees. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 191 



11. Omahas (o'ma-haws). 

12. Blue Earth. The river was given this name because of 
the blue clay of the Cretaceous formation found in its banks. 

13. Des Momes (de-moin'). 

14. Ojibwas (6-jib-ways). Ochipwe, Ochipe, forms given by 
Bishop Baraga. They never call themselves Chippewas as the 
Americans name them. Warren says : "Ojibwa means to roast 
till puckered up, " and that it originated in the custom of torturing 
their enemies by fire. He pronounces it O-jib-way. 

15. Mdewakantonwan (mda-wah-kay'toy-wan). Sacred-Lake- 
dwellers. 

16. Wapekutes (wah-hpa'koo-tays). Leaf shooters. 

17. Wahpetonwans (wah-hpa'ton-wan). Leaf-dwellers. 

18. Stssitonwans (see-see'ton-wans). Marsh-dwellers. 

19. Wictyela (wi-chi-yea'lah). 

20. Wt (wee). 

First Explorers. 

1. Jean Nicolet (zh5n ne'ko'la''). 

2. Michigan (Cree word), from mishigam, big lake. 

3. Le Jeune (leh zhun'). 

4. Tourges (zhoor'zha^). A French ensign. 

5. Raymbault (ram^'bo'). A French ensign. 

6. Sault Ste. Marie— more properly Sault de Sainte Marie (so 
deh san ma' re). The Falls of St. Mary. 

7. "Quebec, from kepek, or kipak, being shut; kipaw, it is 
shut. The Indians of the St. Lawrence still call it Kepek ; because 
the river looks shut up by Diamond Cave, when going up, and by 
the Orleans island, when coming down." — Bishop Baraga. 

8. Iroquois (ir-o-kwoy'). The Six Nations of New York ; 
namely, Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, and 
Tuscaroras. 

9. Garreau (gar-ro'). 

10. Nadouessioux (nadoo-ess-soo). A French attempt to pro- 
nounce an Ojibwa word said to mean enemies. The name was 
applied to the Dakotas. It is now abbreviated to Sioux. 



192 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Groselliers and Radisson. 

1. Medard Chouarl (may-dah' shoo-a'). 

2. Meaux (mo). A town twenty-five or thirty miles north of 
east of Paris, France, on the river Marne. 

3. Pierre D' Esprit (pe-eredes-pri'). 

4. St. Male (san ma' lo). Probably the seaport of that name 
on the northwest coast of France. 

5. Groselliers (gro-sel-ya'). Sieur (se-ur'). Sir. 

6. Radisson (rSdi son'). 

7. Canada (Cree word), a collection or village of huts. 

8. Ren^ Menard (ren-ame-na"). 

9. Chegoimegon (shag'war-me-gon'). Also spelled Chaq-wa- 
mi-gon. Warren, perhaps the best authority, gives the phonetic 
form Shag-a-waum-ik-ong. 

10. Tetanga (ta-tang'a). 

11. Isle Royale is the French form, 

12. Prince Rupert. Nephew of Charles I. of England. 

Rene Menard. 

1. The Hurons themselves were of Iroquois stock, but the 
latter became nevertheless their implacable enemies. The band 
of them that settled at Lake Superior were expelled by the Sioux, 
and again wandered eastward. Part of the tribe exists to-day in 
Canada under the old name, and part in Indian Territory under 
the name of Wyandots. 

2. Perrot (pa-ro'). 

3. Black River. The Sioux called it Sappah (sa-pa), black. 
Then the French called it the Noire (nwa), black. Hence the 
English form. 

4. Marquette (mar-kef ). A French Jesuit missionary. For 
an account of his explorations, see U. S. History. 

5. Allouez (al'wa^). 

The Fur Traders. 

1. Coureurs des bois (kou reQr de bwa). Rovers, or rangers, 
of the woods. 

2. Voyageur (vwa'ya zhur^). A traveler. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



193 



3. Bateaux (bat-oz"). Long, narrow boats tapering rapidly 
from the center toward both ends, and unstable save in the hands 
of skillful boatmen. 

4. Bois dru/e{h\vdhroo-\a'). Burnt wood. This name was 
given to the half-breeds on account of their dark complexions. 

Nicholas Perrot. 

1. Jesuits (ges'u its). "A religious order founded by Ignatius 
Loyola (loi-o'la), and approved in 1540, under the title of The So- 
ciety of Jesus. 

"The order consists of Scholars, who take vows simply of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience, and can leave the Society or be 
dismissed from it, and professed Priests, who also make the same 
three vows, but cannot be dismissed from the Society, nor dis- 
charged from their obligations. The latter class is again divided 
into Spiritual Coadjutors, who have the care of souls, and Jesuits 
of the Four Vows, who add to the three obligations already men- 
tioned a fourth vow of undertaking any missions to which they 
may be ordered by the proper authority, and from among whom 
missionaries are selected." — Websier's Dictionary. 

2. Talon (ta-16n'). 

3. Intendant. A minister in charge of public affairs. In refer- 
ence to the French government of Canada, it usually meant a 
minister of justice with somewhat enlarged duties. 

4. St. Lusson (sSnt lus-son'). 

5. Joliet (zhole-a) was a Jesuit missionary. In 1673, accom- 
panied by Marquette (mar-kgf), he ascended Fox river, made a 
portage to the Wisconsin river and descended to the Mississippi. 
He then explored the latter stream nearly to its mouth. 

Du Luth. 

1. Du Luth (du lut). 

2. Germain en Laye (ger-main-an-la). 

3. New France was the name given by Cartier (kar'te-a') to 
the country adjacent to the St. Lawrence river. Later the name 
was applied, somewhat indefinitely as to boundaries, to the north- 
ern French possessions in America. 

4. This was for the purpose of extending the fur trade. 



194 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



5. Kamenistagoia. This word is said to be of Indian origin 
and to signify three mouths. It is applied generally to Three 
Rivers at Thunder Bay, north shore of Lake Superior. 

6. St. Louis River. Named after Louis XIV. of France. 

7. It was customary in taking possession of a new country to 
erect the king's coat of arms on some natural or artificial object. 
Hennepin's map represents them graven on the bark of an oak 
with the sign of the cross above them. See page 15. 

8. This tribe is described under the Dakotas, note 2. 

9. The Songaskitons are the people mentioned in note 18, and 
the Houetbatons those in note 17, of the Dakotas. It is well to 
anglicize these names in pronunciation, as they are simply French 
imitations of Indian words. 

10. Mille Lacs. Literally, Thousand Lakes, but applied to this 
one in particular. Du Luth called it Lac Buade in honor of 
Frontenac, whose family name was Buade. 

11. See the Fur Traders, note 4. 

12. St. Croix (kroi). Named after one of the early French 
traders who was drowned at its mouth by the capsizing of his boat. 

13. Du Chesneau (doo shay'no). 

14. See Nicholas Perrot, note 3. 

15. Frontenac (fron'te-nak). His real name was Louis Buade. 
Count de Frontenac was his title of nobility. 

Hennepin. 

1. Recollects. Franciscan friars. Gray friars. Minorites. An 
order of the Roman Catholic Church founded by St. Francis of 
Assisi (a-see'see), Italy. They believe in extreme poverty and a 
life of contemplation. The Recollects were a reformed division 
of the order. 

2. Ath (at). A town of Belgium situated on the Dender, a 
navigable branch of the Scheldt. 

3. Artois (ar''twa'). An old province in the northeast of 
France. 

4. Dunkirk (dun'kSrk'). A fortified seaport of France situated 
on the Strait of Dover. 

5. Calais (ka^la'). A well-built town situated in Northern 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. I95 



France on the Strait of Dover. It is an important seaport, and is 
fortified by castle and forts. 

6. Sieur Robert Chevalier de La Salle (se ur' ro'ber' shev-ah- 
lee-a' deh lab Sahl). See U. S. History. 

7. Rouen (roo'tin). An old, important city of Normandy, 
France, situated on the Seine about twenty-five miles from its 
mouth. 

8. Marquis de Seignelay (mar-kee deh san'yeh-la^). His real 
name was Jean Baptiste Colbert (zhon ba teest kol'ber). Like his 
father he was a great statesman. In Hennepin's time the Missis- 
sippi was called the Colbert in his honor ; before that the early 
French e.xplorers, for example Perrot, had called it the Louisiane 
(loo'ee-ze-an'), doubtless after Louis XIV. 

9. St. Joseph River. See map of Michigan. 

10. Kankakee. From a Cree word (ka ka-kiw) meaning a 
crow. See maps of Indiana and Illinois. 

11. Peoria, singular form of Peorias, the name of a tribe of 
Indians. 

• 12. Crevecceur (kra-v-kflr). 

13. Accault (ah'ko). 

14. Picard du Gay (pee ka' doo gay). 

15. See the Dakotas, note 15. 

16. The same as Lake Pepin, which name was given to it 
about the time Ft. Beauharnois was founded. Bo^icher had an 
uncle of that name, and it was also the name of the Dauphin of 
France. It may have been given on one of these accounts. 

17. The St. Croix River. 

18. Lake Cond6 (kon-da^. Lake Superior. Conde was the 
name of a branch of the royal house of Bourbon (boor-bon). 
Louis the XIV. was the greatest monarch of this time, and this is 
but one of several instances where names were given in his honor. 

19. The St. Anthony referred to was a Franciscan monk of 
Padua (pM'ua), Italy. 

20. Red Rock. Prof A. W. Williamson says : ^^Inyan sha, — 
inyan, stone ; sha, red ; the Dakota name of Red Rock, near St 
Paul. A few rods from the river, near the house of Mr. Ford, an 
early settler, was a large egg-shaped syenite boulder, believed by 



196 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



the Indians to be the abode of a powerful spirit which they wor- 
shiped by keeping the stone carefully painted red, and by offer- 
ings of food. Every stone and every other natural object was 
believed by the Dakotasto be the abode of a spirit, but hard, egg- 
shaped stones only were worshiped." 

21. Kaposia (kahpozha). Correct form, Kapoja. Meaning 
light — not heavy. It was at first applied to the band living there, 
because they were light-footed in playing la-crosse. 

22. The S. A. were a myth of the early navigators who were 
seeking for a northwest passage. It seems to have originated with 
one of their number, Zalterius, in 1566. The S. A. were afterward 
identified with Behring Strait. 

23. St. Francis. See Hennepin, note i. The Indian name for 
this stream signifies Every-where-lake-river ; or Great River is the 
name they sometimes gave it. 

Ft. St. Antoine. 

1. Commandant (c5m'man-dant'). 

2. De La Barre (deh la bii). 

3. Trempeleau. See Expedition of 1817, note 2. 

4. St. Antoine (san 5n'twan'). Same as St. Anthony. See 
Hennepin, note 18. 

The early writers place this post on the Wisconsin shore of Lake 
Pepin. For a mile or more from the foot of the lake, that shore 
is marshy and so unfit for the placing of a fort. For a mile or two 
more, dunes of somewhat shifting sand run so close to the shore 
that an enemy upon them could command any fortification be- 
tween them and the water. Thus it is probable Ft. St. Antoine 
stood somewhere above the present village of Pepin, but below 
Maiden Rock. Midway, a large trout stream, called Bogus Creek, 
enters the river. Thirty-five years ago a trading post stood at its 
mouth on a site now occupied by a farm house. The traditions 
of the Indians and later voyageurs claim that very many years ago, 
a few rods removed from this site, stood another post. Twelve 
years ago, it is said, a Frenchman who had then reached the age 
of one hundred one years claimed that he was wont to visit 
it as a boy. Certainly, many reasons other than these point to 
this as the site of Ft. St. Antoine. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. I97 



5. Denonville (deh'non-veeK). 

6. Miamis (mi-a'mis). Or Maumies. People who live on the 
peninsula. 

7. Foxes. A tribe of the Wisconsin Valley. 

8. See First Explorers, note 8. 

9. Proces-Verbal (pro-sa var-bal). It is here used with the 
force of a proper noun, but is really a French common noun mean- 
ing, official report; proceedings; journal. 

10. St. Pierre (sSn pe-er'). The Minnesota River. It is not 
known after whom it was so called. See Ft. Beauharnois, note 12. 

11. Le Sueur (leh-sii'ur'). — A river, town, and county of Min- 
nesota now bear his name. 

12. Marest (mar-a'). 

13. The Jesuits. See Nicholas Perrot, note i. 

La Hontan's Long River. 

I. Gascon. A native of Gascony, France. The Gascons are 
accused of being great boasters ; hence the origin of the word 
gascofiade. 

Ft. Le Sueur. 

1. Charlevoix (shar'leh-vwa''). 

2. Isle Pelee (eel pS-la). 

3. Warren speaks of a post built at Grand Portage between 
167 1 and the end of that century. He states it upon Indian tra- 
dition, and thinks it must have been the oldest post in Minnesota. 
If his tradition does not refer to Ft. Kamenistagoia, Du Luth's 
post built in 1679, and located according to ancient maps north of 
Pigeon river and near Thunder Bay, then the post at Grand Portage 
may have been older than Ft. Le Sueur. 

Ft. L' Huillier. 

1. D' Iberville (de'bSr'veeF). 

2. Biloxi (be-loks'i). See map of State of Mississippi. 

3. Penicaut (pen'e-ko). 

4. Green River. There are green shales found on its banks. 
The same river as the Blue Earth. See the Dakotas, note 12. 

5. The place is not far from the mouth of the Le Sueur river. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



6. L' Huillier (loo'eel ya). 

7. St. Renii (sail rg'me). St. Henry. The Le Sueur river. 

8. D' Evaque '^deh-vark'). 

9. Illinois. An Algonquin word meaning, tribe of men. 

10. Mascoutins. Ojibvva word. Dwellers on a small prairie. 

Ft. Beauharnois. 

1. Mackinaw (mak'i-naw). Abbreviation of Michilimackinac 
(mishil-i-mak'in-aw). Indian word meaning, Great turtle place. 
It was always a great depot of the fur traders, and an important 
military post, for this and other reasons, in the supremacies of 
France, England, and the United States. 

2. Vaudreuil (vo'dru^y). Father of the last French governor 
of Canada. 

3. La Noue (la-iioo'). A French officer. 

4. Linctot (laing'sto). 

5. The Indians had learned that if priests came so would 
traders. It was to secure the latter that they asked for the former 
to be sent among them. 

6. Guignas (geen'yi). 

7. Gonor (g5'nor^). 

8. Maiden Rock is a high bluff with a cliff front. It is situated 
on the east shore of Lake Pepin nearly opposite the point men- 
tioned in the next note. According to the Indian legend, a maiden 
named Winona (wee-no-na), whose parents had forbidden to marry 
the young brave she loved, threw herself from the summit of the 
cliff and was killed. 

9. Pointe au Sable (poo-aingt o sa-bl). Point-in-the-sand. 
Situated on the west shore of Lake Pepin five miles above Lake 
City. 

10. Rene De Boucher (ren-a'dehboosha'). See U. S. History. 

11. Beauharnois (bo-arn-wii). There are certain places on 
the point indicating its possible location. 

12. Legardeur St. Pierre (la-gar-dSr sSn pe-er'). It is some- 
times thought that Le Sueur gave the name St. Pierre to the Min- 
nesota river on his account. 

13. Le Boeuf (leh buf ). It was situated on French creek in 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. I99 



northwestern Pennsylvania. See U. S. History. 
The Northwest Passage. 

1. Verandrie (va riin'drg). 

2. Jemeraye (zham-a-ray'). 

3. La Reine (lah rain). 

4. Gallissonniere (ga'lee-so'ne-air'). 

5. Jonquiere (zh6n'ki-er'). 

6. De Marin ideh-ma-rang^). 

7. Saskatchewan (Cree word), from kisiskatjiwati — the rapid 
current. 

French and English Supremacies. 

I. Versailles (ver salz'). This place is seven or eight miles 
southwest of Paris, France. 

Carver's Explorations. 

1. Du Chien (du-sheen). Dog Prairie. 

2. See First Explorers, note 8. 

3. See Expedition of 1817, note 2. 

Indian Wars. 

1. Pillagers. It was almost a proverbial statement of the 
traders that in the months that have no r the furs are good for 
nothing. Then they were obliged to trust the Indians until the 
time of the fall and winter hunts. But on one occasion a trader 
refused to do this, and the Indians broke into his stores. Hence, 
they were called the Pillagers — a name they gloried in for gen- 
erations. 

2. The Ojibwas claim that when they first beheld this lake 
they saw an enormous leech swimming in it. Hence, the present 
English name. 

"Wabasha's Mission. 

I. Wabasha (war'ba-shaw). Correct form, Wapasha (wah' 
pah sha). Meaning, Red-banner. 

The Northwest Company. 

I. American goods were inferior to the English. The Indians 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



refused to accept the former aft^r they had once obtained some of 
the latter. 

2. The preliminary treaty was signed at Versailles, the final 
one at Fontainebleau forty miles up the Seine from Paris. The 
latter, however, is sometimes called the treaty of Paris. 



BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 



Territorial Changes. 

I. St. Ildefonso (san-eel-da-fon'so), a town sometimes called 
La Granja (la grang'ha) situated forty miles north-northwest of 
Madrid, Spain. The treaty was a noted league made by the 
prime minister Godoy and Napoleon. 

Pike's Expedition. 

1. He became a leading general of the U. S. Army, and was 
killed at Sackett's Harbor in the War of 1812. 

2. Wilkinson was noted in the history of Burr's Treason at 
which time he was governor of Louisiana Territory. 

3. La Crosse (la-cross); a bat; a game of cricket; therefore, 
not the crossing place of the river as some have supposed because 
of the analogy between the English and French words. 

Pike describes the game, as he saw it played at Prairie Du 
Cl'.ien, thus: 

"The ball is made of some hard substance and covered with 
leather, the ci'oss sticks are round and net work, with handles 
three feet long. [The balls are caught in small sinew nets, 
cupsized, and fastened to the bent circle at the end of a three- 
foot hickory stick. — The Author. '\ * * * * The goals are 
set up on the prairie at the distance of half a mile. The ball is 
thrown up in the middle, and each party strives to drive it to the 
opposite goal; and when either party gains the first rubber, which 
is driving it quick round the post, the ball is again taken to the 
center of the ground [the sides] changed, and the contest renewed; 
and this is continued until one side gains four times, which de- 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



cides the game. * * * * It sometimes happens that one 
catches the ball in his racket, and depending on his speed en- 
deavors to carry it to the goal, and when he finds himself too 
closely pursued, he hurls it with great force and dexterity to an 
amazing distance, where there are always flankers of both parties 
ready to receive it ; it seldom touches the ground, but is some- 
times kept in the air for hours before either party can gain the 
victory." 

4. At this day nothing of the stockade remains, and as yet no 
one has found the exact site. 

5. Saulteurs is the correct form. The name was given to the 
Ojibwas because they once lived at Sault St. Marie. Hence the 
pronounciation, so'tSr. 

6. Medals and flags were the pledges of their allegiance. 
Therefore, Pike's real purpose was to give them those of the 
United States in exchange. 

7. See Dakotas, note 18, for Indian form. The present an- 
glicized form is Sisseton. 

8. Gens des Feuilles (zh6ng deh foo-yti). The tribe of the 
leaves. Doubtless the same tribe as mentioned under Dakotas, 
note 17. 

9. Gens du Lac (zh5ng doo lack). Evidently the tribe men- 
tioned under Dakotas, note 15. 

10. The Yanktons. See Dakotas, note 4. 

11. The Indians counted it the highest honor to load their 
guns with ball and fire as close to approaching guests as possible; 
because the guests were apprised by the good marksmanship how 
completely they were at the mercy of the Indians, and at the same 
time, by the absence of injury, how highly they were esteemed 
and how cordially they would be treated. 

Minnesota Indians in War of 1812. 

1. Tecumseh (t'kum'seh). See U. S. History. Shawnee, 
Southerner. 

2. He was generally known as the Prophet, and was Tecum- 
seh's great support in the instigation of this war. 

3. This post was situated about thirty miles from the mouth of 
the Maumee in Ohio. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



4. Tahamie (ta-a'mi). Supposed to be a corruption of Ta- 
maha (ta-ma-ha^). The pike (fisii). 

5. Hay-pee-dan. From he-pi, "tiiird child born, if a son," 
and dan a diminutive ending. 

6. Ghent (gent). Situated in Belgium on the Scheldt. See 
U. S. History close of the War of 181 2. 

Traders and Selkirkers. 

1. Pomme de Terre (p6mdeh ter). Literally, apple of ground^ 
meaning the potato. Tipsinna (teep'sen-na), was the Indian name. 
The T. is a farinaceous bulb much prized for food, especially by 
the Indian children. 

2. It is only just to say that some of Dickson's associates 
give him an excellent record for honorable dealing. 

3. As to his motive, Neill says: "The Earl of Selkirk, a 
wealthy, kind-hearted, but visionary nobleman of Scotland, wrote 
several tracts, urging the importance of colonizing British emi- 
grants in these distant British possessions, and thus check the 
disposition to settle in thCvUnited States." 

4. Acadia was the old name of Nova Scotia. The French 
colonists who lived at Grand Pr6 on the basin of the Minas were 
driven from their homes, placed on board ships, and scattered 
among the people of the southern English colonies. This was in 
the time of the French and Indian War — in the summer and fall of 
1755. For the pitiful story of broken family circles, see works on 
U. S. History, and Longfellow's Evangeline. 

Expedition of 1817. 

1. Roque (rok). 

2. See text in reference to note 2, Carver's E.xplorations. 

3. Montague Trempe el Eau (mong-tang'ya trang-p al 6). 
The mountain steeped in the water ; therefore, standing in the 
water. 

4. Aux Aisles, or fully given, Prairie Aux Aisles (6-zSl). The 
prairie with wings. It is not known why it was so named, but it 
is the author's opinion that it may have been on account of the 
long valleys extending back into the hills from its extremities. 

5. See Wabasha's Mission, note i. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 203 



6. The Bear Dance, described by Maj. Long, was a peculiar 
ceremony through which a young man went when about to become 
a warrior. He made him a den in the earth and simulated a bear, 
while the other young men of the tribe hunted him. If he escaped 
from them, which he might do at the risk of sacrificing their lives, 
or even if he defied the skill of his pursuers for several hours, he 
was counted worthy to enter the state of manhood and upon the 
life of a warrior. 

Ft. Snelling. 

1. For information concerning this noted statesman refer to 
any standard U. S. History. 

2. Cantonment (cSn^ton-ment). 

3. Mendota. Indian form, ATdoie (mdo'tay). Mouth of a 
river. 

4. Drachenfels (driich en-felz). Dragon's rock. One of the 
noted old castles of Germany. 

Crawford County. 

I. This county organization remained in force under the juris- 
diction of Wisconsin Territory. 

Lewis Cass Expedition. 

1. Taliaferro (tSl'T-ver). 

2. Sacs (sawks). The same as Sauks. 

3. Shakopee. Correct form, Shakpe (sha'kpa). Six. 

The Fur Companies. 

1. Prof A. W. Williamson says: '^ Mdehdakinyan (mday- 
hdah-kin-yan). Lake lying crosswise; the Dakota name of Lake 
Traverse, it lying crosswise to Big Stone Lake." 

2. John Jacob Astor, a wealthy merchant of New York City. 

Selkirk's Colony. 

1. Pembina. Cree word. From nipimina, watery berries, 
nip'iy, water, and initia, berries. High bush cranberries. 

2. It is not positively known why the Red River was so named. 
Fanciful reasons have been given from time to time. The French 



204 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



in early days called it Rivih'e Sanglante (ri-vier s5n-gl5nt), Bloody 
River, in all likelihood because of one or more of the many bloody 
feuds which occurred upon its banks. 

Long's Explorations. 

1. Joseph Snelling became an author of considerable repute. 
He wrote both prose and poetry. His best book was entitled 
"Tales of the Northwest." Just previous to his death, which oc- 
curred in 1848, he was editor of the Boston Herald. 

2. Traverse des Sioux. Crossing of the Sioux ; the place 
where their great trail, which led to the northwest, crossed the 
Minnesota river. 

3. "The question is often asked, ' Why does the northern boun- 
dary of Minnesota bend suddenly north at the Lake of the Woods 
and make that singular projection into British America.' The 
answer to this question carries us back to the ' Provisional Articles 
between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty, 
concluded November 30th, 1782.' These articles were the result 
of the negotiations made by and between Richard Oswald, the 
commissioner on the part of Great Britain, and John Adams, 
Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, commissioners 
of the United States for treating of peace at the close of the Rev- 
olutionary War. 

"At the conference of these commissioners, no objection was 
made on the part of ' His Britannic Majesty ' to acknowledging the 
United States ' to be free, sovereign and independent,' but consider- 
able discussion took place over the northern boundary. After 
settling upon the line as it now runs through lakes Ontario, Erie 
and Huron it was claimed by the British commissioner that it 
should proceed through the middle of the Strait of Mackinac and 
Lake Michigan to the southernmost point of said lake and thence 
due west to the Mississippi river. To this proposal sll the com- 
missioners on the part of the United States were inclined to assent 
except Franklin. He, however, made decided objections. The 
nature of the country along the western shores of Lake Superior, 
its wealth of copper, iron and precious metals, its abundant timber 
and its magnificent water powers had not escaped his vigilance 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 205 



even at that early day. While the others were willing to give up to 
Great Britain what is now the northern part of Illinois, the whole 
of Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan and part of Minne- 
sota as worthless, he insisted that the boundary line should follow 
the trail of the old half breed voyageurs from the mouth of Pigeon 
river along the channel of the water ways communicating with 
the Lake of the Woods. Oswald finally agreed to this demand 
of Franklin's on condition that he should not oppose the remain- 
ing article of the treaty. So it was agreed tliat the line should 
run 'through Lake Superior north of Isle Royaleand Philippeaux, 
to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake 
and the water communicating between it and the Lake of the 
Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said 
lake to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on 
a due west course to the river Mississippi.' 

"At the 'DefinitiveTreaty of Peace' concluded at Paris Septem- 
ber 3d, 1783, the above boundary was established. 

"Before the treaty of London was made — November 19th, 
1794, grave doubts began to be entertained as to whether a line 
drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods would strike the 
Mississippi at all, and Article IV. of said treaty reads as follows: 
'Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends so 
far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn 
due west from the Lake of the Woods, in the manner mentioned 
in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States, 
it is agreed that measures be taken in concert between His 
Majesty's Government in America and the Government of the 
United States for making a joint survey of the said river from 
one degree of latitude below the Falls of St. Anthony, to the 
principal source or sources of said river, and also of the parts 
adjacent thereto; and that if, on the result of such survey, it 
should appear that the said river would not be intersected by such 
a line as is above mentioned, the two parties will thereupon pro- 
ceed, by amicable negotiation, to regulate the boundary line in 
that quarter.' 

"As no settlement of the northwest boundary was made under 
this article it again came up for adjustment at Ghent, December 



2o6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



24th, 1S14. Here provision was made — Article VII. — for two com- 
missioners, one to be appointed by his Britannic Majesty and the 
other by the President of the United States, who were, in addition 
to other duties, 'to fix and determine, according to the true intent 
of the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred a::d eighty- 
three, that part of the boundary between the dominions of the 
two powers which extends from the water communication between 
Laive Huron and Lake Superior to the most northwestern point 
of the Lake of the Woods. * * * and particularize the latitude 
and longitude of the most northwestern part of the Lake of the 
Woods. ' 

"The commissioners appointed as above were for a while puzzled 
to decide between the point of the lake at Rat Portage, at the 
northern extremity of the lake, and the 'northern point of the bay 
now known as the northwest angle.' The principle on which the 
vexed ciuestion was finally settled, by Dr. J. L. Tiak, British as- 
tronomer, in favor of the northwest angle, is this : 'the northwest 
point is that on which, if a line be drawn in the plane of a great 
circle, making an angle of 45° with the meridian, such a line would 
cut no other water of the lake.' This principle is probably the 
correct one, but it seems a little singular to the ordinary student 
of geography, that a place so near the southern part of the lake 
can be the most northwest corner. The commissioners were not 
able to place a landmark at the spot agreed on as the northwest 
point on account of its being in a quagmire, so they built a refer- 
ence monument seven feet square by twelve feet high of oak and 
poplar logs. The latitude of the ' point ' was given as 49° 23^ 6.48^^ 
and the longitude as 95° 14' 38'^ approximately. 

"It now only remained for the convention at London of Oc- 
tober 2oth, 181S, to agree that 'a line drawn from the most north- 
western point of the Lake of the Woods along the furty-ninth 
parallel of north latitude, or if the said point shall not be in the 
forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, then that a line drawn from 
the said point due north or south, as the case may be, until the 
said line shall intersect the said parallel of north latitude, and from 
the point of such intersection, due west along and with said par- 
allel, shall be the line of demarcation between the territories of 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 207 



the United States and those of His Britannic Majesty, and that the 
said line shall form the northern boundary of the United States 
and the southern boundary of the territories of His Britannic 
Majesty from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains.' 

[It is to be borne in mind that while the treaty of Ghent pro- 
vided for finding the N. W. Angle it was not determined by Tiak 
until 1825; nor was the provision of the convention of London, 
just recorded, and which anticipated the time when the angle 
should be determined, made effective until the boundary was so 
defined and ratified by tke treaty of November loth, 1842. — 
Author. ] 

"In 1872 another set of commissioners appointed for the pur- 
pose had great difficulty in recovering this position. At one time 
trouble with Great Britain was seriously threatened. The point 
having been fixed by the commissioners acting under the treaty 
of Ghent could not be changed, and the above given description 
by latitude and longitude ' was not sufficiently accurate to deter- 
mine its position.' The lake when visited was unusually high; 
the aspen logs which composed the larger part of the monument 
had rotted away and the oak ones were several feet under water, 
and not easily found. They were, however, at last discovered and 
the position of the 'northwest point' finally fixed at latitude 49° 
23' 50. 28'^ longitude 95° 8' 56.9^^. The position of the N. VV. 
point as fixed by Captain Anderson, Royal Engineer, and Maj. 
F. U. Farquar, United States Engineer, during the fall of 1872, 
was not finally agreed to by the commissioners until September, 
1874."— JK W. Pendergast. 

The language of the treaty quoted above is somewhat obscure 
in reference to the plan of determining the N. W. Angle ; but the 
map here given, and the subjoined rules, formulated by the author 
after consulting Dr. J. E. Davies of the United States Coast Sur- 
vey, will, it is believed, make the whole subject clear. 

ist. To find the N. W. Angle. — Travel northward on the west 
shore of the lake to the first point from whose meridian a line can 
be drawn northeasterly, at an angle of 45°, without striking the 
lake again. 

2d. To find the N. E. Angle.— Travel northward on the east 



208 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



shore to the first point as a from whose meridian a line can be drawn 
northwesterly at an angle of 45°, without striking the lake again. 

3d. To find the S. £. Angle. — Travel southward on the east 
shore to a first point d where a line drawn southwesterly, at an 
angle of 45°, will not again strike the lake. 

4th. To find the S. W. Angle. — Travel southward on the west 
shore to a first point c from which a line drawn southeasterly, at 
an angle of 45°, will not again strike the lake. 



ShoalL. 
N.W. Angle 



49 N.L 




4. Winnipeg. Correct form, Winnipek, meaning swamps; 
salt water ; unclean water. Used commonly in speaking of the 
sea water. 

Source of the Mississippi. 

1. This name, originally applied to Lake Itasca, belongs, as now 
referred to, to the small lake close to the southeast side of tlie west 
arm of Itasca. On Nicollet's map, which see elsewhere in this book, 
it maybe distinguished by three streamlets entering it of which the 
most easterly drains a lakelet somewhat smaller than itself 

2. Pemidji, or Bemidji, Boutwell says, Pemidjimark, cross- 
ing place. Mr. Gilfillan, of White Earth, says : " The lake where 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



209 



the current flows directly across the water, referring to the river 
flowing squarely out of the lake on the east side, cutting it in two 
as it were ; very briefly, it is Cross Lake." 

3. Nicollet says : " These elevations are commonly flat at top, 
varying in height from eighty-five to one hundred feet above the 
level of the surrounding waters. They are covered with thick 
forests in which the coniferous plants predominate. South of 
Itasca Lake they form a semicircular region, with a boggy bottom, 
extending to the southward a distance of several miles ; thence 
these Hauteurs des Terres ascend to the northwest and north, 
and then stretching to the northeast and east, through the zone 
between 47° and 48° of latitude, make the dividing ridge between 
the waters that empty into Hudson Bay and those which discharge 
themselves into the Gulf of Mexico. The principal group of these 
Hauteurs des 7>rre.? is subdivided into several ramifications, vary- 
ing in extent, elevation, and course, so as to determine the hydro- 
graphical basins of all the innumerable lakes and rivers that so 
peculiarly characterize this region of country." 

See Nicollet's map of the Itasca region. 

Count Beltrami. 

1. The title on his passport was Le Chevalier Count Beltrami. 
The latter word as applied to a county of the State is pronounced 
B61-tra'mi, and it may be so pronounced here. It is supposed that 
B. was banished from the Papal States.. For interesting anecdotes 
about him and his own narrative of explorations, see Neill's large 
history of Minnesota. 

2. Beltrami says : "I have given it the name of the respect- 
able lady whose life (to use the language of her illustrious friend 
the Countess of Albany) was one undeviating course of moral 
rectitude. ' ' 

Indian Treaties. 

I. Fond du Lac. French expression literally signifying, bot- 
tom of the lake, — therefore, end of the lake. The term is applied 
somewhat loosely, now to the end nearest the inlet, and again lo 
the one at the outlet. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Border Wars. 

1. Winnebagoes. Those who dwell by a sea. The word is 
of the same origin as Winnipeg ; see Long's Explorations, note 4. 

Schoolcraft's Expedition. 

1. The voyageiirs and explorers often found it necessary on 
their journeys to carry their boats and baggage overland from one 
body of water to another. The portages, as they were for obvious 
reasons called, occurred most frequently between two rivers at 
their nearest or most accessible point of approach. Men accus- 
tomed to this duty were able to carry heavy burdens long distances 
without apparent fatigue. See the graphic illustrations elsewhere 
in this book. The name portage is given to the place as well as 
to the act of carrying. 

2. Savanna River. Literally, Prairie River. 

3. One day when the expedition was coasting westward along 
the shore of Lake Superior, Mr. Schoolcraft said to Mr. Boutwell, 
"You are a classical scholar, give me a name for the true source 
of the Mississippi, to be applied when we shall have found it." 

Boutwell replied, "I do not think of one word, but there are 
two Latin words, Veritas, truth, and caputs head." 

In a moment Schoolcraft answered, " I have it! Itasca! " 
Thus the name existing to-day was crudely coined from the 
last two syllables of the first word and the first of the last. Mr. 
Boutwell related these facts to the author in the summer of 1886. 
Of course, it would not be difficult to find words in the Indian 
languages of like sound, and so many have sought in that way to 
trace out its derivation. 

4. Little Crow was grandfather of the Little Crow spoken of 
in the Sioux massacre. 

5. Prof. Williamson says: "Shunkasapa, — shHnka,do%\ sapa, 
black; Black Dog, a Dakota chief, and name of his village near 
Hamilton Station, Omaha (Sioux City) Railway. 

6. Neill says: "The first school-master of the post was John 
Marsh. He is said to have been a college graduate, and accom- 
panied the first troops to the mouth of the Minnesota river. In 
time he became a trader's clerk, and afterwards a sub-Indian 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



agent, and justice of the peace for Crawford county, Minnesota. 
In 1832, during the Black Hawk War, he ascended the Mississippi 
and secured the services of about eighty Sioux warriors, and ac- 
companied them, as interpreter, to the army of Gen. Atkinson, 
but they soon returned." 

7. Black Hawk was a Sauk chief. For an account of this war 
see U. S. History. 

Featherstonhaugh. 

1. Featherstonhaugh (feth''er-ston-haw). 

2. Coteau des (ko^to deh) Prairies. Hill of the prairies or 
plains. 

Catlin. 

1. The pipestone lies buried six feet or more beneath the jas- 
per on the flats below the quartzite cliffs. There are abundant 
relics of Indian camps, old and new, in the vicinity. See illustra- 
tions of a Yankton band digging the stone. 

2. Waraju (wa-ra-hoo); from wagha, Cottonwood, and zliu, 
plant. Tanka, great, chistina (chees^te-nii), little. Hence Wa- 
raju Tanka and Waraju Chistina. 

3. A shattered column belonging to the quartzite cliffs. Its 
top, viewed from certain positions, appears like a liuman head in 
profile. See illustration. 

4. These theories are explicitly stated, in connection with 
other interesting facts, upon pages 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the Minne- 
sota Geological Report, Vol. 1. 

5. Two or three miles northeast of the quarry is seen a nar- 
row ridge-like mound, three or four feet in height. It incloses 
perhaps ten acres in somewhat circular form, and within it are a 
few small conical mounds. Tradition relates that a great battle 
took place there more than a century ago between the lowas and 
Omahas. 

6. The three largest of six red granite boulders. They are 
about twenty feet in length by twelve in height. According to a 
legend, a contest occurred here in which all the Indians perished 
save three maidens who hid behind these rocks; hence the name 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



given to the latter. From these women sprang the present race 
of Indians. For another beautiful legend of the quarry read this 
selection from Longfellow's Hiawatha: 

THE PEACE-PIPE. 



On the Mountains of the Prairie, 
On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry 
Gitche Manito, the niisihty; 
He the Master of Life, descending, 
On the red crags of the quarry 
Stood erect, and called the nations, 
Called the tribes of men together. 

From his footprints flowed a river, 
Leaped into the light of morning, 
O'er the precipice plunging downward 
Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. 
And the Spirit, stooping earthward. 
With his finger on the meacfow 
Traced a winding pathwayfor it. 
Saying to it, " Run in this way ! " 

From the red stone of the quarry 
With his hand he broke a fragment. 
Moulded it into a pipe-head, 
Shaped and fashioned it with figurcb, 
From the margin of the river 
Took a long reed fir a pipe-stem. 
With its dark green leaves upon it ; 
Filled the pipe with bark of willow, 
With the liark of the red willow; 
Breathed upon the neighboring forest, 
Made its great boughs chafe together, 
Till 111 flame they burst and kindled; 
And erect upon the mountains, 
Gitclie Manito, the mighty, 
Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe 
As a signal to the nations. 

And the smoke rose slowly, slowly 
Through the tranquil air of morning, 
First a single line of darkness. 
Then a denser, bluer vapor. 
Then a snow-white cloud unfolding, 
Like the tree-tops of the forest, 
Ever rising, rising, rising. 
Till it touched the top of lieaven. 
Till it broke against the heaven. 
And rolled outward all around it. 

From the Vale of Tawasentha, 
From the Valley of Wyoming, 
From the groves of Tuscaloosa, 
From the far-ort Rocky Mountains, 
From the Northern lakes and rivers 
All the tribes beheld the signal. 
Saw the distant smoke ascending, 
The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe. 

And the Prophets of the nations 
Said: " Behold it, the Pukwana ! 
By this signal from afarofi, 
Bending like a wand of willow. 
Waving like a hand that beckons, 
Gitche Manito, the mighty. 



Calls the tribes of men together. 
Calls the warriors to his council ! " 

Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, 
Came the warriors of the nations, 
Came the Delawaresand Mohawks, 
Came the Choctavvs and Camanches, 
Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, 
Came the Pawnees and Omahas, 
Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, 
Came the Hurons and Ojibvvays, 
All the warriors drawn together 
By the signal ofthe Peace-Pipe, 
To the Mountains ofthe Prairie, 
To the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry. 

And they slood there on the meadow. 
With their weapons and their war-gear. 
Painted like the leaves of Autumn, 
Painted like the sky of morning, 
Wildly glaring at each other; 
In their faces stern defiance, 
In their hearts the feuds of ages', 
The hereditary hatred. 
The ancestral thirst of vengeance. 

Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
The creator ofthe nations. 
Looked upon them with compassion, 
With paternal love and pity ; 
Looked upon their wrath and wrangling 
But as quarrels among children. 
But as feuds and fights of children ! 

Over them he stretched his right hand. 
To subdue their stubborn natures, 
To allay their thirst and fever, 
By the shadow of his right hand ; 
Spake to them with voice majestic 
As the sound of far-off waters, 
Falling into deep abysses, 
Warning, chiding, spake in thiswise: — 

" O my children ! my poor children 1 
Listen to the words of wisdom. 
Listen to the words of warning. 
From the lips ofthe Great Spirit, 
From the Master of Life who made yon I 

" I have given you lands to hunt in, 
I have given you streams to fish in, 
I have given you bear and bison, 
I have given you roe and reindeer, 
I have given you brant and beaver. 
Filled themarshes full of wild-fowl. 
Filled the rivers full of fishes; 
Why then are you not contented? 
Why then will you hunt each other? 

" I am weary of your quarrels. 
Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 
Weary of your prayers for vengeance. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



213 



Of your wranglings and dissensions; 
All your strength is in your union, 
All your danger is in discord ; 
Therefore lie at peace lienceforward, 
And as hrothers live together. 

" I will send a Pr<iphet to you, 
A Deliverer of the nations, 
AVho shall guide you and shall teach you. 
Who shall toil and suffer with you. 
If you listen to his counsels, 
Vou will multiply and prosper; 
If his wflrnings pass unheeded, 
You will fade away and perish ! 

" Bathe now in the stream before you, 
Wash the war-paint from your faces, 
Wash the blood -stains from your fingers. 
Bury your war-clubs and your weapons, 
Break the red stone from this quarry, 
Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes, 
Take the reeds that grow beside you. 
Deck them with your brightest feathers, 
Smoke the calumet together. 
And as brothers live henceforward ! " 

Then upon the ground the warriors 
Threw their cloaks and shirts of deer- 
skin. 
Threw their weapons and their war- 



Clear above them flowed the water. 
Clear and limpid from the footprints 
01 the Master of Life descending; 
Dark below them flowed the water. 
Soiled and stained with streaks of crim- 
son, 
As if blood were mingled with it! 

From the river came the warriors. 
Clean and washed from all their war- 
paint ; 
On the banks their clubs they buried, 
liuried all their warlike weapons. 
Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
The Great Spirit, the creator. 
Smiled upon his helpless children ! 

And in silence all the warriors 
Broke the red stone of the quarry. 
Smoothed and formed it into Peace- 
Pipes, 
Broke the long reeds by the river, 
Decked them with their brightest feath- 
ers. 
And departed each one homeward, 
While the Master of Life, ascending, 
Through the opening of cloud-curtains, 
Through the doorways of the heaven, 
Vanished from before their faces. 
In the smoke that rolled around him, 
The Pukwanaof the Peace-Pipe! 



gear. 
Leaped into the rushing river. 
Washed the war-paint from their faces, 

— By favor of Houghton, Mifflut Cs' Co., Boston. 

7. See illustrations ta]<en from the Minnesota Geological Re- 
port, Vol. I. The author has verified theni by three personal in- 
spections of the rocks, which have now been removed. They are 
supposed to be chiefs' totems. For an excellent description of 
such symbols read the following also from Hiawatha: 

PICTURE WRITING. 



In those days said Hiawatha, 

" I.o ! How all things fade and perish! 

From the memory of tlie old men 

Pass away the great traditions, 

The achievements of the warriors. 

The adventures of the hunters. 

All the wisdom of the Medas, 

All the craft of the Wabenos, 

All the marvelous dreams and visions 

Of the.Jossakeeds, the Prophets! 

" Great men die and are forgotten. 
Wise men speak ; their words of wisdom 
Perish in the ears that hear them, 
Do not reach the generations 
That, as yet unborn, are waiting 
In the great, mysterious darkness 
Of the speechless da\s that shall be ! 

" On the grave-posts of our fathers 
Are no signs, no figures painted 
Who are in those graves we know not. 



Only know they are our fathers. 
Of what kith they are and kindred, 
Ftom what old ancestral Totem, 
Be it Eagle, Bear, or Beaver, 
They descended, this we know not, 
Only know they are our fathers. 

" Face to face we speak together, 
P;ut we cannot speak when absent, 
(auiiot send our voices from us 
To the friends that dwell afar ofT; 
Cannot send a secret message, 
But the bearer learns our secret. 
May pervert it, may betray it, 
Mav reveal it unto otliers." 

Thus said Hiawatha, walking 
In the solitary forest, 
I'ondering, musing in the forest, 
On the welfare of his people. 

From his pouch he took his colors, 
Took his ijaints of different colors. 



214 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



On the smooth bark of a birch-tree 

Painted many shapes ami figures, 

Wonderful and mystic figures, 

And each figure had a meaning, 

Each some word or thouglit suggested. 

Gitche Manito,the Mighty, 

He, the Master of Life, was painted 

As an egg, with points projecting 

To the four winds of tlie heavens. 

Everywhere is the Great Spirit, 

Was the meaning of this symbol. 

Mitche Manito, the Mighty, 
He, tlie dreadful Spirit of Evil, 
As a serpent was depicted, 
As Kenabeek, the great serpent. 
Very crafty, very cunning, 
Is the creeping Spirit of Evil, 
Was the meaning of this symbol. 

Life and Death he drew as circles, 
Life was white, but Death was dark- 
ened ; 
Suti and moon and stars he painted, 
Man and beast, and fish and reptile. 
Forests, mountains, lakes and rivers. 

For the earth he drew a straight line. 
For the sky a bow above it ; 
White the space between for day-time, 
FillecJ with little stars for night-time ; 
On the left a point for sunrise, 
On the right a point for sunset. 
On the top a point for noontide. 
And for rain and cloudy weather 
Waving lines descending from it. 

Footprints pointing towards a wig- 
wam 
Were asigii of invitation, 
Were a sign of guests assembling; 
Bloody hands with palms uplifted 
Were a symbol of destruction. 
Were a hostile sign and symbol. 

All these things did Hiawatha 
Show unto his wondering people. 
And interpreted their meaning. 
And he said : " Behold, your grave-posts 
Have no mark, no sign, nor symbol. 
Go and paint them all with figures : 
Each one with its household symbol, 
With its own ancestral Totem 
So that those who follow after 
May distinguish them and know them." 

And they painted on the grave-posts 
On the graves yet unforgotten. 
Each his own ancestral Totem, 
Each the symbol of his household ; 
Figures of the Bear and Reindeer, 
Of the Turtle, Crane, and Beaver, 
Each inverted as a token 
That the owner was departed. 
That the chief who bore the symbol 
Lay beneath in dust and ashes. 

And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets, 
The Wabenos, the Magicians, 



And the Medicine-men, the Medas, 
Painted upon bark ami deer-skin 
Figures for the songs they chanted, 
For each song a separate symbol, 
Figures mystical and awful. 
Figures strange and brightly colored ; 
And each figure had its meaning, 
Each some magic song suggested. 

The Great Spirit, the Creator, 
Flashing light through all the heaven ; 
The Great Serpent, the Kenabeek, 
With his bloody crest erected. 
Creeping, looking into heaven ; 
In the sky the sun, that listens, 
And the moon eclipsed and dying ; 
Owl and eagle, crane and hen-hawk, 
And the cormorant, bird of magic ; 
Headless men that walk the heavens, 
Bodies lying pierced with arrows. 
Bloody hands of death uplifted. 
Flags on graves, and great war-captains 
Grasping both the earth and heaven ! 

Such as these the shapes they painted 
On the birch-bark and the deer-skin ; 
Songs of war and songs of hunting, 
Songs of medicine and of magic, 
All were written in these figures. 
For each figure had its meaning, 
Each its separate song recorded. 

Nor forgotten was the Love-Song, 
The most subtle of all medicines, 
The most potent spell of magic. 
Dangerous more than war or hunting I 
Thusthe Love-Song was recorded. 
Symbol and interpretation. 

First a human figure standing. 
Painted in the brightest scarlet ; 
'Tis the lover, the musician, 
And the meaning is, " My painting 
Makes mepowerful over others." 

Then the figure seated, singing, 
Playing on a drum of magic. 
And the interpretation, " Listen ! 
'Tis my voice you hear, my singing ! " 

Then the same red figure seated 
In the shelter of a wigwam. 
And the meaning of the symbol, 
" I will come and sit beside you 
In the mystery of my passion ! " 

Then two figures, man and woman, 
Stantling hand in hand together 
With their hands so clasped together 
That they seem in one united. 
And the words thus represented 
Are, " I see your heart within you. 
And your cheeks are red with blushes ! " 

Next the maiden on an island. 
In the center of an island ; 
-■^nd the song this shape suggested 
Was, " Though you were at a distance. 
Were upon some far-olT island. 
Such the spell 1 cast upon you. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 215 



And the image had this meaning: 
" Naked lies your heart before me, 
To your naked heart I whisper! " 

Thus it was that Hiawatha, 
In his wisdom, taught the people 
All the mysteries of painting. 
All the art of Picture-Writing, 
On the smooth bark of the birch-tree. 
On the white skin of the reindeer, 
On the grave-posts of the village 



Such the magic power of passion, 

I could straightway draw you to me ! " 

Then the figure of the maiden 
Sleeping, and the lover near her. 
Whispering to her in her slumbers, 
Saying, " Though you were far from me 
In the land of Sleep and Silence, 
Still the voice of love would reach you 1 " 

And the last of all the figures 
Was a heart within a circle. 
Drawn within a magic circle ; 

— By favor of Houghton^ Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

Dred Scott. 

1. Dred Scott was plaintiff in error before the United States 
Supreme Court, at tlie December term of 1856, versus John F. A. 
Sandford, his alleged master. The decision of Judge Taney is in 
brief; — 

{a) "A free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were 
brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a citizen within 
the meaning of the Constitution of the United States." 

{b) "Every citizen has the right to take with him into the 
Territory any articles of property which the Constitution of the 
United States recognizes as property 

{c) "The Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves 
as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it, 
and Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property 
of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over 
property of any other kind. 

{d) "The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of 
the United States from taking with him his slaves when he re- 
moves to the Territory in question to reside, is an exercise of 
authority over private property which is not warranted by the 
Constitution ^and the removal of the plaintiff, by his owner, to 
that Territory, gave him no title to freedom." 

2. Roger Brooke Taney (taw^ni). 

Nicollet. 

1. Jean Nicolas Nicollet (zhon ni'co'la'' ni^co'la^). His name 
as used geographically in Minnesota is pronounced Nik'ol-let. 

2. Cluses (klooz), a town situated in France twenty-three 
miles southeast of Geneva, Switzerland. 



2l6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



3. Haute Savoie (hot sii'vwa). Higli or Upper Savoy, a 
province of eastern France. 

4. La Place (la'plass^) w^as a French mathematician. He is 
known to all scholars throughout the world. 

5. This order was instituted by Napoleon I. in 1S02 to reward 
men of genius who should make great achievements in either civil 
or military life. Its decoration was once a cross of ten points ; 
again, a five-pointed, white enameled, gold-edged, gold wreath- 
encircled star, with blue, circular center shield bearing the em- 
peror's head. 

6. Fronchet (fron'sha). 

7. Brunet (broo'na^). Nicollet says of him, "* * * my prin- 
cipal guide, Francis Brunet, a man six feet three inches higli — a 
giant of great strength, but, at the same time, full of the milk of 
human kindness, and withal an excellent natural geographer." 

S. J. N. Nicollet. 

C. F. W 

C. A. C. "^ 

J- L- ti 

J. E. F. -< i' 

J. R. %'" 

Gen. Fremont, in a letter to C. H. Bennett, of Pipestone, says: 
"The two sets of initials inscribed to which you particularly re- 
fer are for Charles Fremont, as I then commonly wrote my name, 
and J. Eugene Flandin, a young gentleman from New York, who 
was attached to the party." 

9. Manito, also spelled Rlanitou (man'i-tou). Spirit; the 
name given by the Indians to the Great Spirit. See Catlin, note 3. 

10. The name seems to have been applied to both the Manito 
and the rock from which the leap was made to the head of the 
Manito. 

Gen. Fremont, in the letter mentioned in note 8, says : 

"I wonder if the chimney [Manito] which stood in front of the 

•escarpment is still standing? It required a sure foot to jump from 

the main rock to the top of it. " 

A young brave, so runs the legend, made the first leap and won 

thereby a chieftain's daughter. Hence the name of the rock. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 217 



11. Baron Frederick Henry Carl Fouqn^ (foo'ka). A German 
novelist and poet. His "Undine" stands in high literary repute. 

12. See illustration. 

13. See account of La Hontan elsewhere in this history. 

14. See Whittier's Prayer of Agassiz. Louis John Rudolph 
Agassiz (ag'a-see, a-g<1s iz) was a Swiss by birth, but an American 
by life-long associations. 

Pirst Protestant Missions. 

1. Poage (p6g). 

2. Names of Dakota chiefs. 

3. Lausanne (16'zan'). 

Events of 1837. 

1. After this, by treaties made in 1842, 1847, 1854, 1855, l^Lirch 
1863, October 1S63, 1864, and 1866, the Ojibwas little by little 
ceded their Minnesota lands to the general government, and at 
last came to reside on the various reservations in the northern 
part of the State as indicated upon the historical chart in tiie be- 
ginning of this book. 

The U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs gives this census of 
the bands in 1S83 : — 

Mississippi Ojibwas, .... 3^5 

Otter Tail Pillagers, - - - . ^jq 

Pembina band, - . - . . 235 

Pillagers of lakes Cass and Winnebagoshis, - 351 

Leech Lake, . . . . . 1.137 

Mississippi, "■■"-• 95 

Mille Lacs, ------ 894 

Red CIifT, 188 

Bois Forte, ------ ^00 

Grand Portage, Lake Superior, - - - 236 

Fond du Lac, - - - - - 431 

Total, - - - 5,723 

In the present year^ 1887, negotiations are pending to unite these 
tands upon the White Earth Reservation. 

2. This treaty was signed Sept. 29th, 1S37. Joel R. Poinsett 
(see Removal of Swiss Settlers in text) was the U. S. commis- 



2l8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



sioner who conducted the negotiations. The language of the first 
article is this: — 

"The chiefs and braves representing the parties having an 
interest therein, cede to the United States all their lands east of 
the Mississippi river, and all their islands in the said river." 

Battle of Pokeguma. 

I. Po-k^g'u-ma. Niiigipukaivaiia (Chippewa) means, I turned 
off — left the road I was traveling', g2iine means lake; hence 
Puk-a-gum-e, or anglicized, Pokeguma ; the place to leave the 
river (Snake river) to enter the lake. 

Settlement of St. Paul. 

1. Compare the illustrations of old St. Paul with those of the 
St. Paul of to-day. 

2. See illustrations. 

3. Henry Jackson was the first postmaster of St. Paul. 



TIMES OF THE TERRITORY. 



First Legislature. 

I. This hotel, of which an illustration is given, was called the 
Central House. At first built of logs, it was afterwards covered 
with lumber. The landlord was familiarly known among early- 
settlers as "Old Daddy Burton." 

Initial Treaties, 

I. Hole-in-the-day was one of the shrewdest and most elo- 
quent chiefs the Ojibwas ever had. See portrait. His father, 
Hole-in-the-day I., was also noted. 

Traverse des Sioux Treaty. 

I. The Sioux believed that a deity existed in the storm cloud, 
in the form of a great bird,the flashing of whose eyes was lightning 
and flapping of wings thunder. They still point out near Sisseton 
Agency, Dakota, the place where he has left his tracks upon the 
solid rock. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 2I9 



2. Sissetons (sis'sT-tons). The same band is mentioned under 
The Dakotas. note iS. 

3. Wahpetons (wop'a-tons). This band is mentioned under 
The Dakotas, note 17. 

4. Webster says: "The calumet is used as a symbol or instru- 
ment of peace and war. To accept the calumet is to agree to the 
terms of peace, and to refuse it is to reject them. The calumet of 
peace is used to seal or ratify contracts and alliances, to receive 
strangers kindly, and to travel with safety. The calumet of war, 
differently made, is used to proclaim war." 

The Dakota pipes are made from the red pipestone, with stems 
of willow bent and carved. The work upon both bowl and stem 
is often very fine. 

5. Waiab. The root of evergreen trees, like the fir, pine, and 
tamarack, used for sewing birch bark canoes. 

6. The English name is a translation of the Dakota expression 
Pay-she-hoo-ta-ze. Dr. T. M. Young says the name was given on 
account of the slender, bitter, yellow root of the moon-seed which 
grows on the banks of the stream. 

Mendota Treaty. 

1. See The Dakotas, note 15. 

2. See The Dakotas, note 16. 

3. This name is applied to the lofty eminence back of the 
village. The Indians called it Okheyawahe (6k-ha-ya-wa-ba). It 
is derived from okhe, hill, ^.wAyaivabe, much visited. 

Settlements. 

1. Ka'sota. A Dakota word meaning clear or cleared off. 
The village is situated upon a high open prairie which forms the 
first bench of the Minnesota river's southern bluffs between Man- 
kato and St. Peter. 

2. Man-ka'to. From ;Hfl/^a, earth, and /f, blue. Name applied 
by the Dakotas to the Blue Earth river. 

3. Winona (we-no'nii, anglicized wi-no'na), diminutive of the 
Dakota word whio, woman, and meaning first born if a daughter. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Gov. Ramsey's Message. 

T. St. Croix County, for an account of which see preceding 
text. 

2. Mississippi River. 

Proposed Division of School Funds. 

I. Cretin (kra'tin), R. C. This bishop was widely and favor- 
ably known. 

Gov. Gorman. 

I. President Jackson instituted the system of turning out gov- 
ernment officials of other parties to make room for his own 
political associates. 

Seventh Legislature. 

I. Westervelt. Now Frontenac. 

Inkpadoota Massacre. 

1. Minneopa (Min'ni-op'a), from mini, water and iiopa, two; 
hence, two waters. The name is appropriate ; for there are two 
cascades, one about ten feet high, the other forty, See illustration. 

2. Inkpadoota, Scarlet End. 

3. Springfield, now Jackson, Jackson county. 

4. He was usually called Little Paul. See Hazelwood 
Republic and portrait. Like Otherday, he was eloquent m striv- 
ing to stem the tide of the Sioux massacre. 

5. See Sioux Massacre and portrait. 

6. Those Indians who were receiving annuities under the 
treaties of Mendota and Traverse des Sioux. 



THE STATE. 



The New Era. 

I. This panic was general in the United States. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



International Transit. 

1. The clog train was a kind of toboggan. How it was loaded 
is seen in tlie illustration. 

2. These carts were in use as early as the year iSoi. They 
were then made entirely of wood. See illustrations. 

Third Legislature. 

I. The statutes provide that school lands shall not be sold 
for less than five dollars per acre. Many of them bring more than 
this. It is estimated that the common school fund will be about 
twenty million dollars when all are sold. 

The Rebellion. 

I. Gov. Ramsey was the first of the governors to offer the aid 
of state troops. This offer was made and accepted on the day 
Ft. Sumter fell. 

Military Record of 1861. 

I. For the location of all places and full accounts of battles 
and campaigns mentioned in these military records, the reader 
must refer to works upon United States History. 

The Sioux Massacre. 

1. The Soldiers' Lodge, or Tee-yo-tee-pc, it is said, was only 
organized on special occasions, as when the Indians were about to 
take the war-path or enter upon a grand hunt. 

2. The falls of the Redwood are situated three miles above 
its junction with the Minnesota. The intervening part of the 
stream is a succession of rapids walled in by picturesque bluffs 
and granite clifiis. 

3. A description of the Big Woods is given under the head of 
Flora. 

4. The monument at Acton, elsewhere illustrated, is situated 
in a little Lutheran cemetery three or four miles from the Baker 
homestead, on a road leading to Litchfield. These are the inscrip- 
tions upon Its four tablets. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



I. 

FIRST BLOOD. 
II. 

Robinson Jones. 
ViRANUs Webster. 
Howard Baker. 
Ann Baker. 
Clara D. Wilson. 

III. 

Erected by the State 

IN 1878, 

Under the direction 

OF the 

Meeker County 

Old Settlers' Association. 

IV. 

In Memory of the 
first five victims 

of the great 
Indian Massacre of 

August, 1862. 
and buried here 

in one grave. 

Mrs. Jones is here called Ann Baker, her name by a first 
marriage. She was the mother of Howard Baker. 

5. The Indians led Howard Baker and his friends to take part 
in a shooting match, and then surprised them when their guns 
were empty. The oak tree to which the target was attached is 
still standing, and its side, scarred by the knife of the curiosity 
hunter searching for bullets, shows after the lapse of twenty-five 
years where these first pioneer martyrs stood and fell by the cabin 
door. 

6. The ravine shown in one of the illustrations of the fort is 
where the Indians found cover. 

It was due to the fine skill of Sergeant Jones of the regular 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 223 



army, a veteran of the Mexican War who served as artilleryman, 
that the Indians were kept at bay. The barracks were crowded 
with fugitives of all ages and sexes, and one shudders to think 
what might have occurred had the strong nerve and unerring aim 
of this one man have failed. 

Worthy of permanent record is the bravery of Rev. G. P. 
Hicks, who all day long went steadily back and forth carrying 
shells and canister to the guns from the magazine which stood in 
a position of great danger outside of the quadrangle. Like the 
gunner, he seemed to possess a charmed life which no one of the 
hundred leaden messengers flying every minute could affect. 

7. "Ishtakhba ; ishta, eye ; khba, sleepy; the name of an em- 
inent Dakota chief, a firm friend to the whites, who was the first 
signer of the treaty of 1851. The name was probably applied to 
Sleepy Eye Lake about fifty years ago, when his band planted 
there."— ^. W. Williamson. 

8. Governor Ramsey commissioned Sibley as colonel at the 
beginning of the campaign^ and President Lincoln commissioned 
him brigadier-general at its close. He was subsequently given the 
rank of brevet major-general. 

9. The sound traveled through the deep bluff-lined valley as 
through a great speaking tube. 

10. In the spring of 1863 the remainder of the condemned 
prisoners at Mankato were removed to Davenport, Iowa. 

The families of the prisoners, and others not condemned, all of 
whom had been held in camp at Ft. Snelling during the winter 
were taken to Crow Creek on the Missouri and allowed to make 
homes. Three years later, after much suffering, they were granted 
a reservation upon the Niobrara, Nebraska, and were joined there 
at that time by the prisoners released from Davenport. 

Many of these prisoners, casting all government support aside, 
soon cut loose from this the Santee Agency, and with great forti- 
tude in the face of hardships settled upon lands in the valley of the 
Big Sioux, forty miles above Sioux Falls. They are known as the 
Homesteaders and have persisted in their purpose to become 
civilized. 

A band of fifty friendly Wahpeton and Sisseton scouts accom 



224 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



panied Sibley in the campaign of 1S63. and these and their families 
were supported by the government for several years, because 
they kept guard on the Minnesota border. This little band was- 
called the "Scouts Camp." In 1867 they made a treaty, resulting 
in the settlement of themselves and kindred bands upon the 
present reservation, in eastern Dakota Territory, which bears their 
tribal names. 

The Yanktons were established ere this in southeastern 
Dakota upon a reservation bearing their name, while the Teetons 
and other hostile bands kept aloof upon the upper Missouri. 

Thus have all the Dakotas, save a few stragglers, vanished 
from their native land. 

Gov. S\A/'ift. 

I. When Connecticut yielded to the national government in 
September, 1786, her claims to territory which later formed a part 
of the Northwest Territory, she retained a tract of country one 
hundred and twenty miles long and fifty miles wide, situated on 
the south shore of Lake Erie. This was the Western Reserve. 
The college of that name is now called Adelbert, and has been 
removed from its old location at Hudson to Cleveland. 

Sully-Sibley Campaign. 

1. Minne Wakan. Minni, zvater ; wakan, spirit; or anything 
that is mysterious or supernatural is said to be wakan. Devil's 
Lake, therefore, is not the best translation. 

2. Chauncy Lampson and his father Nathan started on the third 
day of July to their farm a few miles north of Hutchinson to care 
for stock. They discovered two Indians, afterward identified as 
Little Crow and his son, picking raspberries near one of the Scat- 
tered Lakes on the land of a Mr. McDowell. 

Seeing them, and thinking many more might be at hand, 
Chauncy whispered to his father, "Let us return to town." 
"No," said Lampson, " I will have a shot at them." 
He rested his gun against a small poplar, took deliberate aim, 
and fired. The tree was not large enough to hide him. Little 
Crow returned the fire. Lampson dropped back to reload his 
gun. Chauncy thought his father was killed, and hastened along 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 225 



a woodland path running around the base of a small elevation. 
Little Crow followed the same path from the opposite direction. 
They suddenly confronted each other. Chauncy fell upon one 
knee and covered Little Crow's heart. Little Crow covered 
Chauncy. The united rifle reports rung out as one. Without 
waiting to note the result Chauncy, unhurt, fled to Hutchinson, 
and told the story, saying to the incredulous people, "I surely 
killed him for I never took better aim." The search party indeed 
found the dead chief, and fell in with Lampson, senior, who was 
uninjured. 

Great Civil Topics. 

1. The just complaint that the criminal code, or those laws 
pertaining to the punishment of criminals, is ineffective has not 
been peculiar to Minnesota, but has been made against the criminal 
code of every state and country. 

2. In addition to grants of land for the support of schools, 
railroad construction, and internal improvement, the general gov- 
ernment has donated swamp lands to the State to be used for such 
purposes as the latter may in its wisdom select. All subdivisions 
of land half or more of whose surface is marshy are classed as 
swamp lands. They are determined by reference to the maps and 
field-books of the government surveyors. The interpretation of 
these records has always been liberal, so the area of swamp lands 
is not only vast but of great value. 

Railroad Legislation. 

I. George IIL of England granted the charter of Dartmouth 
College in 1769. 

The legislature of New Hampshire passed certain acts June 27th, 
and December i8th and 26th, 1816, altering the charter and or- 
ganization of said college and declaring that it should be known as 
Dartmouth University. By a provision, the secretary and treasurer 
of Dartmouth College, W. H. Woodward, was to hold over as 
secretary and treasurer of Dartmouth University until the trustees 
of the latter should reappoint him, or appoint his successor. The 
trustees of Dartmouth College, still holding to the validity of the 
original charter, removed Woodward as secretary August 27th, 
1816, and as treasurer September 27th of the same year. The 



226 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



trustees of Dartmouth University, holding to the validity of the new 
charter, claimed that Woodward legally held over until his reap- 
pointment by them on the fourth of February, 1817. This caused 
the trustees of Dartmouth College to bring the suit against Wood- 
ward which was finally decided by the United States Supreme 
Court, in brief, as follows : 

(a). The charter of 1769 was not broken by the War of Revolution. 

(d). Said charter was that of a private, not a public, corporation. 

(c). Therefore the legislature of New Hampshire, under that 

clause of the Federal Constitution relating to the impairing of the 

obligation of contracts, had no right to change or annul the charter. 

2. These two cases were tried before the United States Su- 
preme Court at the October term, 1876: 

Winona & St. Peter Railroad, plaintiffs in error, versus J. D. 
Blake of Rochester. 

Southern Minnesota Railroad, plaintiff in error, versus Coleman. 

In the original cases the defendants in the above suits were 
plaintiffs to recover what the railroads exacted over legal rates of 
tariff. The decision of Chief Justice Waite, in the first case stated 
above, which he also reaffirmed in the second, was as follows : 

" By its charter, the Winona & St. Peter Railway Company was 
incorporated as a common carrier, with all the rights and subject to 
all the obligations that name implies. It was therefore bound to 
carry when called upon for that purpose, and charge only a reason- 
able compensation for the carriage. These are incidents of the 
occupation in which it was authorized to engage. There is nothing 
in the charter limiting the State to regulate the rates of charge. 
The provisions in the act of February 28th, 1S66, that the 'company 
shall be bound to carry freight and passengers upon reasonable 
terms,' and that in the Constitution of Minnesota (Art. 10, Sec. 4) 
that 'all corporations being common carriers, ****** 
shall be bound to carry the mineral, agricultural, and other pro- 
ductions or manufactures on equal and reasonable terms,' add 
nothing to and take nothing from the grant as contained in the 
original charter." 
The Locusts. 

1. These were known under the name of Rocky Mountain 
locusts because they came from that region of country. 

2. Laissesfaire^ let alone. 



REFERENCE TABLES. 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS. 

Alexander Ramsey, June i, 1849, to May 15, 1853. 
Willis A. Gorman, May 15, 1S53, to April 23, 1857. 
Samuel Medary, April 23, 1857, to May 24, 1858. 



TERRITORIAL CHIEF JUSTICES. 

Aaron Goodrich, June i, 1S49, to November 13, 1851. 
Jerome Fuller, November 13, 1851, to December 16, 1852. 
Henry Z. Hayner, December 16, 1852, to April 7, 1853. 
William H. Welch, April 7th, 1853, to May 24, 1858. 



DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. 

Henry H. Sibley, January 15, 1849, to March 4, 1853. 
Henry M. Rice, December 5, 1853, to March 4, 1857. 
W. W. Kingsbury, December 7, 1857, to May 11, 185J 



STATE GOVERNORS. 

Henry H. Sibley, May 24, 1858, to January 2, j86o. 
Alexander Ramsey, January 2, i860, to July 10, 1863. 
Henry A. Swift, July 10, 1863, to January 11, 1864. 
Stephen Miller, January 11, 1864, to January 8, 1866. 
William R. Marshall, January 8, 1866, to January 9, 1870. 
Horace Austin, January 9, 1870, to January 7, 1874. 
Cushman K. Davis, January 7, 1074, to January 7, 1876. 
John S. Pillsbury, January 7, 1876, to January 10, 1882. 
Lucius F. Hubbard, January 10, 1882, to January 5, 1887. 
Andrew R. McGill, January 5, 1887, to 



228 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS. 

William Holcomb, May 24, 1858, to January 2, i860. 
Ignatius Donnelly, January 2, i860, to March 3, 1863. 
Henry A. Swift, March 4, 1S63, to July 10, 1863. 
Charles D. Sherwood, January 11, 1864, to January 8, 1S66. 
Thomas H. Armstrong, January 8, 1866, to January 7, 1870. 
William H. Yale, January 7, 1870, to January 9, 1874. 
Alphonso Barto, January 9, 1874, to January 7, 1876. 
James B. Wakefield, January 7, 1876, to January 10, 1880. 
Charles A. Oilman, January 10, 1880, to January 4, 1887. 
A. E. Rice, January 4, 1887, to 



STATE CHIEF JUSTICES. 

Lafayette Emmett, May 24, 1858, to January 10, 1865. 
Thomas Wilson, January 10, 1865, to July 14, 1869. 
James Gilfillan, July 14, 1869, to January 7, 1870. 
Christopher G. Ripley, January 7, 1870, to April 7, 1874. 
S. J. R. McMillan, April 7, 1874, to March 10, 1875. 
James Gilfillan, March 10, 1875, to 



SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE. 



Incumbent. 



J. S. Watrous 

Geo. Bradley 

Amos Cogswell 

Jared Benson 

Jared Benson 

Chas. D. Sherwood.. 

Jared Benson 

Thos. H. Armstrong. 
Jas. B. Wakefield 



Legislature. 



I First 

Second < 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 



Date. 



1858 

1859 
i860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 



REFERENCE TABLES. 



229 



SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE.— Cont. 



Incumbent. 



John Q. Farmer. 
John Q. Farmer. 
C. D. Davidson.. 
J. L. Merriam.... 
J. L. Merriam.... 

A. R. Hall 

A. R. Hall 

A. R. Hall 

W. R. Kinyon .., 
W. R. Kinyon.., 

J. L. Gibbs 

C. A. Oilman 

C. A. Oilman 

Loren Fletcher... 
Loren Fletcher... 

J. L. Oibbs 

W. R. Merriam., 



Legislature. 



Ninth 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Twelfth 

Thirteenth 

Fourteenth 

Fifteenth 

Sixteenth 

Seventeenth.... 

Eighteenth 

Nineteenth 

Twentieth 

Twenty-first.... 
Twenty-second. 
Twenty-third ... 
Twenty-fourth. 
Twenty-fifth .... 



Date. 



1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1881 
1883 
1885 



UNITED STATES SENATORS. 



Jas. Shields, May 11, 1858, to March 4, i860. 
H. M. Rice, May 11. 1858, to March 4, 1863. 
M. S. Wilkinson, March 4, i860, to March 4, 1867. 
Alexander Ramsey, March 4, 1863, to March 4, 1875. 
D. S. Norton, March 4, 1867, died July 14, 1870. 
Wm. Windom, July 16, 1870, to January 18, 1871. 
O. P. Stearns, January 18, 1871, to March 4, 1871. 
Wm. Windom, March 4, 1871, to March 12, 1881. 
S. J. R. McMillan, December 6, 1875, to March 4, 1887. 
A. J. Edgerton, March 12, i88r, to October 26, 1S81. 
Wm. Windom, October 26, 1881, to March 4, 1883. 
D. M. Sabin, March 4, 18S3, to March 4, 1889. 
C. K. Davis, March 4, 1887, to 



230 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVES. 



W. W. Phelps, May ii, 1858, to March 4, 1S59. 

J. M. Cavenaugh, May 11, 1858, to March 4, 1859. 

Will. Wiiidom, December 5, 1S59, to March 4, 1S69. 

Cyrus Aldrich, December 5, 1859, to March 4, 1S63. 

Ignatius Donnelly, December 7, 1863, to March 4, 1869. 

M. S. Wilkinson, March 4, 1869, to.March 4, 1871. 

E. M. Wilson, March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1871. 

J. T. Averill, March 4, 187 1, to March 4, 1875. 

M. H. Dunnell, March 4, 1871, to March 4, 1883. 

H. B. Strait, December i, 1873, to March 4, 1879. 

W. S. King, December 6, 1875, to March 4, 1877. 

J. H. Stewart, December 3, 1877, to March 4, 1879. 

Henry Poehler, INIarch 4, 1879, to March 4, 1881. 

H. B. Strait, March 4, 1881, to March 4, 1887. 

W. D. Washburn, March 4, 1879, to March 4, 18S5. 

Milo White. March 4, 18S3, to March 4, 1887. 

J. B. Wakefield, March 4, 1S83, to March 4, 1887. 

Knute Nelson, March 4, 1883, to March 4, 1887. 

J. B. Gilfillan, March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1S87. 

John Lind, March 4, 1887, to 

Thos. Wilson, March 4, 1S87, to 

J. L. McDonald, March 4, 1887, to 

Knute Nelson, March 4, 1887, to 

Edmund Rice, March 4, 1887, to 



VOTE FOR GOVERNORS. 



Candidates. 



H. H. Sibley i 1857 



A. Ramsey. 

A. Ramsey 

Geo. L. Becker. 
A. Ramsey 




Vote. 



17,790 
17,550 
21,335 
17,582 
16,274 



REFERENCE TABLES. 



231 



VOTE FOR GOVERNORS. — CoNT. 



Candidates. 



E. O. Hamlin... 
Stephen Miller.. 

H. T. Wells 

W. R. Marshall. 

H. M. Rice 

W. R. Marshall. 
C. E. Flandrau. 

H. Austin 

Geo. L. Otis 

H. Austin 

W. Young 

C. K. Davis 

A. Barton 

J. S. Pillsbury.. 

D. L. Buell 

J. S. Pillsbury... 
VV. L. Banning . 
J. S. Pillsbury... 
Edmund Rice... 
L. F. Hubbard.. 
R. W. Johnson. 
L. F. Hubbard.. 

A. Bierman 

A. R. McGilL... 
A. A. Ames 



Year. 



Vote. 



i86r 


10,448 


1863 


19,628 


1863 


12,739 


1865 


17,318 


1865 


13,842 


1867 


34,874 


1867 


29,502 


1869 


27,348 


1869 


25.401 


1871 


46,950 


1871 


30,376 


1873 


40,741 


1873 


35,245 


1875 


47,073 


1875 


35,275 


1877 


57,071 


1877 


39, 147 


1S79 


57,524 


1879 


41,844 


i88t 


65,025 


1881 


37,168 


1883 


72,462 


1883 


58,251 


1886 


107,064 


1S86 


104,464 



PRESIDENTIAL VOTE. 



Candidates. 




Lincoln 

Douglas 

Breckenridge. 

Lincoln 

McClellan 

Grant 



Vote. 



i860 


22.069 


i860 


11,920 


IS60 


748 


1864 


25,055 


1864 


17,367 


1868 


43,722 



232 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



PRESIDENTIAL VOTE. — Cont. 



Candidates. 



Seymour.. 

Grant 

Greeley ... 

Tilden 

Hayes 

Hancock.. 
Garfield.... 
Cleveland 
Blaine 



Vote. 



1868 


28,096 


1872 


55,708 


1872 


35,211 


1876 


48,787 


1876 


72,955 


I8S0 


53,315 


1880 


93,903 


1884 


70,065 


1884 


111,685 



POPULATION OF MINNESOTA. 



Year. 


Census. 


1850. 


6,077. 


i860. 


172,023. 


1865. 


250,099. 


1870 


439,706. 


1875- 


597,407. 


1880. 


780,773- 


1885. 


1,117,798. 



ELEVATION OF LAKES ABOVE TIDE- 
WATER. 

Lake of the Woods 1,025 

Rainy Lake 1,150 

Red Lake 1,140 

Lake Itasca 1,500 

Cass Lake 1,300 

Winnibigosish Lake 1,290 

Leech Lake 1,292 

Mille Lacs 1,246 



REFERENCE TABLES. 233 



ELEVATION OF LAKES ABOVE TIDE-WATER.— Cont. 

Otter Tail Lake i>325 

Lake Traverse 970 

Big Stone Lake 962 

Lake Minnetonka 922 

Lake Benton i,754 

Lake Shetek i,475 

Lake Pepin 664 

Lake St. Croix 672 

White Bear Lake 910 

— Minn. Geo. Reporl, Vol. I. 



ELEVATION OF HILLS, VALLEYS AND 
PLATEAUS ABOVE TIDE-WATER. 

Red River flats at Moorhead 913 

Red River flats at St. Vincent 800 

Coteau des Prairies 1,800-1,900 

Prairies of the Minnesota Valley 1,000-1,200 

Prairies of Waseca and Steele counties 1,100-1,200 

Prairies of Freeborn and Mower counties 1,200-1,400 

The valley lands of the Mississippi and its tributaries 
in the counties of Houston, Fillmore, Winona, 

Wabasha and Goodhue 650-900 

Upland prairies of those same counties 1,000-1,200 

The wooded region of the Upper Mississippi 1,200-1,500 

The wooded flats between Cass Lake and Lake of 

the Woods 1,100-1,400 

Summits of the Giants Range 2,100-2,200 

Summits of the Mesabi Range 2,100-2,200 

Summits of the Sawteeth Range 1,800-2,000 

Rolling plateau surrounding Lake Itasca 1,500-1,700 

Leaf Mountains, in Otter Tail County 1,500-1,750 

— Mi7in. Geo. Report, Vol. I. 



234 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



COUNTIES. 



Counties 




Date 



Becker, 
Beltrami 

Benton 

Big Stone 

Blue Earth .... 

Brown 

Carlton 

Carver 

Cass 

Chippewa 

Chisago 

Clay 

Cook 

Cottonwood .. 
Crow Wing.... 

Dakota 

Dodge 

Douglas 

Faribault 

Fillmore 

Freeborn 

Goodhue 

Grant 

Hennepin 

Houston 

Hubbard 

Isanti 

Itasca 

Jackson 

Kanabec 

Kandiyohi 

Kittson 

Lac qui Parle 

Lake 

Le Sueur 

Lincoln 

Lyon 

McLeod 



Sauk Rapids., 

Ortonviile 

Mankato 

New Uim , 

Thomson 

Chaska , 



Montevideo 

Center City 

Moorhead 

Grand Marias.... 

Windom 

Brainerd 

Hastings 

Mantorville 

Alexandria 

Blue Earth City. 

Preston 

Albert Lea 

Red Wing 

Elbow Lake 

Minneapolis 

Caledonia 

Park Rapids 

Cambridge 



Jackson 

Brunswick 

Willmar 

Hallock 

Madison 

Two Harbors 

Le Sueur Center.. 

Lake Benton 

Marshall 

Glencoe 



May 23, 1857. 
May 23, 1857. 
March iS, 1S58. 
Feb. 28, 1866. 
Oct. 27, 1849. 
Feb. 20, 1S62. 
March 5, 1853. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
May 23, 1857. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
Sept. I, 1851. 
Feb. 20, 1862. 
Sept. I, 1851. 
March 2, 1862. 
March 9, 1874. 
May 23, 1857. 
May 23, 1857. 
Oct. 27, 1849. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
March 8, 1858. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
March 5, 1853. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
March 5, 1853. 
March 6, 1868. 
March 6, 1852. 
Feb. 23, 1854. 
Feb. 26, 1883. 
Feb. 13, 1857. 
Oct. 29, 1849. 
May 23, 1S57. 
March 13, 1858. 
March 20, 1858. 
Feb. 25, 1879. 
Nov. 3, 1871. 
March i, 1856. 
March 5, 1853. 
March 6, 1873. 
Nov. 2, 1869. 
March i, 1856. 



REFERENCE TABLES. 



235 



COUNTIES.— CONT. 



Counties 



Marshall 

Martin 

Meeker 

Mille Lacs 

Morrison 

Mower 

Murray 

Nicollet 

Nobles 

Norman 

Olmsted 

Otter Tail 

Pme 

Pipestone 

Polk 

Pope 

Ramsey 

Redwood 

Renville 

Rice 

Rock 

St. Louis 

Scott 

Sherburne 

Sibley 

Stearns... 

Steele.. 

Stevens 

Swilt 

Todd 

Traverse 

Wabasha 

Wadena 

Waseca 

Washington 

Watonwan 

Wilkin 

Winona 

Wrisht 

Yellow Medicine 



County Seats. 



Warren 

Fairmont 

Litchfield 

Princeton 

Little Falls 

Austin 

Currie 

St. Peter 

Worthington 

Ada 

Rochester 

Fergus Falls 

Pine City 

Pipestone City . 

Crookston 

Glenwood 

St. Paul 

Redwood Falls, 

Beaver Falls 

Faribault 

Luverne 

Duluth 

Shakopee 

Elk River 

Henderson 

St. Cloud 

Owatonna 

Morris , 

Benson 

Long Prairie 

Brown's Valley 

Wabasha 

Wadena 

Waseca , 

Stillwater 

St. James 

Breckenridge ... 

Winona 

Buffalo 

Granite Falls... 



Date. 



Feb. 25, 1879. 
May 23, 1857. 
Feb. 23, 1856. 
May 23, 1857. 
Feb. 25, 1858. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
May 23, 1857. 
March 5, 1853. 
May 23, 1857. 
Nov. 29, 1881. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
March 18, 1858. 
March 31, 1856. 
May 23, 1857. 
July 20, 1858. 
Feb. 20, 1862. 
Oct. 27, 1849. 
Feb. 6, 1862. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
March 5, 1853. 
March 23, 1857. 
March i, 1856. 
March 5, 1858. 
Feb. 25, 1856. 
March 5, 1853. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
Feb. 20, i860. 
March 4, 1870. 
Feb. 20, 1862. 
Feb. 20, 1862. 
Oct. 27, 1849. 
July II, 1858. 
Feb. 27, 1857. 
Oct. 27, 1849. 
Nov. 6. i860. 
March 6, 1868. 
Feb. 23, 1849. 
Feb. 20, 1855. 
Nov. 3, 1S71. 



INDEX. 



N B. — Points not explained on pages referred to will be found in the notes 
belonging to those pages and indicated upon them. Things not included here 
can be traced as well through the table of contents. 



Accault, Michael, 31. 

Acton, situation of, 143. 

Agassiz, alluded to, 93. 

Allen, Lieutenant, with Schoolcraft, 83; 
makes valuable geographical observa- 
tions, 85. 

Allouez, Father Claude, 28 ; at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 30 

American Fur Company, its growth, 72 ; 
post of, 69; post of at Big Stone Lake,75 

Ames, M. E. Speakerof the House, 112. 

Animal Life, 18. 

Ashland 27. 

Askjn, trader, leads Indians against 
Americans in 1812, 62. 

Assiniboines, 19. 

Astor, John Jacob, 72. 

Austin, biography of, 163 ; vetoes inter- 
nal improvement land bill, 166. 

Ayer, founds mission at Red Lake, 99. 

Bad Hail, Dakota Chief, no. 

Baker, Howard, victim at Acton, 143. 

Bancroft, historian, 121. 

Battery, 1st, organized and record of in 
1861, 139; ist, in 1862,140; 2d, in 1862, 
140 ; 3d, in 1863, 155 ; ist, in 1864, 157 ; 
2d, in 1864, 158; 3d, in 1864, 158. 

Bayfield, 27. 

Bear Dance, described, 64. 

Beauharnois, governor, espouses cause 
of Verandrie, 45; prejudiced against 
Verandrie, 46. 

Beltrami, Count, 80. 

Big Cottonwood, river, meaning in 
Sioux, 87. 

Big Mound, battle' of, 155. 

Big Stone Lake, 19. 



Big Woods, 18 ; where, 143. 

Birch Coolie, battle of, 149. 

Black Dog, who, 83. 

Blue Earth, river, 20. 

Boardman, Sheriff, at relief of New Ulm, 
146. 

Hois Brule, river, 31. 

Boucher, who, 43. 

Boundary, between the U. S. and British 
A., 75. 

Boutwell,with Schoolcraft's expedition, 
83; established a mission at Leech 
Lake, 94 ; goes to Pokeguma, 97. 

Bradley, corporal in Pike's command, 
59- 

Breckenridge, route to, 135. 

Bremer, Fredrika's description of St. 
Paul, 112. 

Brisbin, John B., president of Council, 
124, 126. 

Brown, Maj. J. R., buries dead at Lower 
Agency, 149. 

Calhoun, who, 65; plans military oc- 
cupation of Minnesota, 65. 

Calumet, or peace-pipe, 115. 

Camp Release, 152. 

Cannon, supposed to be Long River, 93. 

Carver, Jonathan, 47 ; finds a cave, 48; 
visits St. Anthony Falls, 48; ascends 
the St. Pierre, 48; proposes to find a 
northwest passage, 50; his claims of 
territory, 50. 

Cass, Lewis, 69; seeks to make peace 
between Ojibwas and Dakotas, 70; 
treats with Indians at PrairieDuChien, 
80; makes a treaty at Fond du Lac, 81. 

Cass Lake, mentioned by Morrison, 76. 



238 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Castle Rock, 92. 

Catlin, George, artist, 85; his geological 
theories, 88. 

Catliii, John, governor of Wis. Ter., 105. 

Cavalry, Independent, in 1863, 155 ; 2d, 
in 1864, 156 ; Independent, in 1864; 157 ; 
Brackett's, in 1864, 158. 

Cave, Carver's, 64; Fountain, 64. 

Chambers, Governor, Indian commis- 
sioner, no. 

Charlevoix, Jesuit historian, 39. 

Chatfield, A. G., Associate Justice, 119. 

Chegoimegon Bay, 27. 

Chimney Rock, 92. 

Chase, Chas. L., heads constitutional 
convention, 130. 

Clark, governor of Missouri, treats with 
Indians at Prairie Du Chien, 80. 

Clays, for brick and pottery, 18. 

Climate of Minnesota, 17. 

Clough, W. P., 171. 

Coalition party, n6. 

Cold Water Cantonment, 65. 

Columbia Company, 72; post of at Lake 
Traverse, 75. 

Cooper, scientist, writings, 85. 

Cooper, David, Justice, 106. 

Coteau des Prairies, 85 ; visited by 
Nicollet, 90. 

Coureurs des bois, 29. 

Courts, first, 107. 

Cox, E. St. Julien, impeached, 178. 

Cretin, Bishop, 119. 

Dakotas, character of, 20; origin of, 20; 
bands of, 20; language of, 21; plan of 
counting, 21; plan of counting time, 22; 
theirnames of months, 23; poetry, 24; 
sacred language, 24; religion of, 25; 
offer friendship to the English, 47; 
called River Bands by Carver, 48; yield 
to OJibvvas, 50 ; contend with Ojibwas, 
52; fight in war of 1812, 62; fight Ojib- 
was on the Pomme de Terre, 62 ; break 
Cass treaty, 74 ; make treaty at Prairie 
Du Chien, 80; in Black Hawk war, 83; 
fight at Pokeguma, 96; cede lands east 
of Mississippi, 96. 



Dana, Col. N. J. T., commands 1st 

Regiment, 138; promoted, 139. 
Dartmouth College case, 171. 
Davis, biography of, 169; opinion of 

rights of railroads, 170; speaks of 

locusts, 172. 
Day, David, speaker of House, 117. 
Dead ButTalo Lake, battle of, 155. 
De Conor, at Ft. Beauharnois, 43. 
De La Barre, who, 37. 
DeMarin, seeks a northwest passage, 46. 
Democratic party, 116. 
Denonville, who, 37. 
Des Moines, river, 20. 
D'Evaque, M., commands Ft. L' Huil- 

lier, 41. 
D'lberville, assists Le Sueur, 40; me- 
morializes the French government, 42. 
Dickson, enlists Indians against the U. 

S., 62 ; opinion of his character, 62. 
Dodge, Governor, treats with Indians at 

Ft. Siielling, 95. 
Dog trains, 136. 

Douglas, Captain, engineer, 69. 
Dracheiifels, allusion to, 66. 
Du Chesneau,3i. 

Du Luth, 30, 31 ; frees Hennepin, 36. 
Duluth, harbor of, 164. 
Dunn, Judge, 99. 
Edgerton, A. J., railroad commissioner, 

171. 
Elbow Lake, a source of Red River, 77. 
Elk Lake, to what the name is applied, 

75; mentioned by Morrison as Lake 

Itasca, 76. 
Elskwatawa, the Prophet, 62. 
Ely, missionary, 97. 
Emerson, owner of Dred Scott, 88. 
English supremacy, established, 47. 
Evangelical Society of Lausanne, 95. 
Fauna, 18. 

Featherstonhaugh, 85. 
Fillmore,President,visitsMinnesota,i2i. 
I'landrau, Chas. E., Associate Justice, 

120; Indian agent, 128; objects to a 

mandamus, 133; heads relief party at 

New Ulm, 146 



239 



Flora of Minnesota, 17. 

Forbes, W. H., president of Council, 116. 

Forest City, massacre near, 147. 

Forests, areas of and trees, 17 

Ft. Abercrombie, garrison in 1862 small, 

141; assaulted September 3d, 1862, 150. 
Ft. Beauharnois, constructed how and 

when, 43 ; purposes of, 45 ; flooded and 

rebuilt, 45. 
Ft. Crevecoeur, 33. 
Ft. Jonquiere, built, 46. 
Ft. La Reine, 46. 
Ft. Ridgely, expedition from in Inkpa- 

doota war, 128; garrison in 1862 small, 

141 ; news of outbreak at, 144; invested 

by Little Crow, 145; siege of, 146; 

intrenched, 147. 
Ft. St. Anthony, 65 ; building of, 70. 
Ft. St. Pierre, 46. 
Ft. Snelling, Long's description of site, 

64; plan of, 66,69; name suggested, 

66; mills for, 72; initial treaties at, 

110. 
Ft. William, location of, 75. 
Fortifications, near Pipestone, 88. 
Fremont, J. C, accompanies Nicollet, 

go- 
French supremacy ends, 47. 
Frotichet, trader, 90. 
Frontenac, 31. 

Fuller, Jerome, Chief Justice, 117. 
Furber, Joseph W., speaker of House, 

109, 126. 
Galbraith, Indian agent, 145. 
Gallissonniere, proposes to aid Verand- 

rie, 46. 
Gardner, Abbie, 124, 128. 
Gardner, family of, 128, 
Gardiner, Chas., speaker of House, 124. 
Garreau, Father, killed, 26; lesson of 

his experience, 36. 
Gens des Feuilles, who, 60. 
Gens du Lac, who, 60. 
Ghent, treaty of, 62. 
Goodhue, Jas. M., editor, 106. 
Goodrich, Aaron, Chief Justice, to6: 

superseded, 117. 



Gorman, W. A., governor, 119; reviews 
railroad question, 125; calls extra 
legislative session, 129; commands ist 
Regiment and is promoted, 138. 

Grand Portage, where, 76; river of, &o. 

(■rant, English trader, 59. 

Green River, why so named, what now 
called, 40. 

Guignas, Father, at Ft. Beauharnois, 

43- 

Gun, grandson of Carver, 63. 

Harrington, Lewis, at siege of Hutchin- 
son, 150. 

Hayner, chosen judge, 117; decision on 
prohibition law, 119. 

Hay-pee-dan, Sioux ally of Americans in 
1812, 62. 

Hazel Run, 123. 

Hazelwood Mission, camp at, 152. 

Heights of land, description of, 76. 

Hendricks, Capt. Mark, at relief of Birch 
Coolie, 149. 

Hennepin, 31: explorations of, 32; cap- 
tured, 35; hopes to find a northwest 
passage to India, 36, 37 ; last known of, 
36. 

Hole-in-the-day II., no. 

Hopper, Andrew, at siege of Hutchin- 
son, 150. 

Hospital, first for insane, 161 ; for deaf, 
dumb, and blind, 161. 

Houetbatons, who, 31. 

Houghton, with Schoolcraft expedition, 
83 ; writings of, 85. 

Hubbard, Lucius F., commands 5th 
Regiment, 140; biography of, 179. 

Hudson Bay Company founded, 28; en- 
croachments of, 65; unites with North- 
west Company, 70. 

Huggins, A. W., missionary, 94, 95. 

Ihanktonwana, 20. 

Infantry Battalion in 1S65, 159. 

Inkpadoota, band of, 124. 

Intendant of Canada, 30; meaning of 
title, 31. 

lowas, 20. 

Iroquois, 26. 



240 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Isle Pelee, when and why so named, 40. 

Isle Royal, 27. 

Itasca Lake, mentioned by Morrison, 76; 

how named, 83. 
Izatys, who they were, 31. 
James, U. S. Marshal, 96. 
Jemeraye, who, 45. 

Johnson, Gen. R. W., gubernatorial can- 
didate, iSo. 
Jones, Robinson, victim at Acton, 143. 
Jonquiere, governor, ignores the Ver- 

andries, 46. 
Julia, Lake, 80. 
Julian sources of the Mississippi and 

Red, 80. 
Kanienistagoia, 30. 
Kaposia, where situated and why 

named, 35 ; Methodists at, 95. 
Kasota, settlement of, meaning, 117. 
Keating, scientist, with Long expedition 

of 1823,74. 
Kettle Hill, where, origin of name, 63. 
Keweenaw Bay, 27. 
King's arms, planting of, 31. 
King, grandson of Carver, 63. 
Kingsbury, W. W., delegate to Congress, 

120. 
Lac qui Parle, 19, distance up the St. 

Pierre, 50; mission destroyed, 123. 
La Crosse, meaning of name, 57. 
La Hontan, Baron, his voyage, 38, 39. 
Lake Conde, 33. 
Lake, areas of Minnesota, 16. 
Lake of Tears, 33. 
Lake of the Woods, 46, 75. 
Lake Traverse, seat of fur trade, 62 ; 

origin of name, 72 
Lampson, Chauncy, kills Little Crow, 

154- 

Lands, grant to Northwestern R. R., 
121; granted State University, 137; 
public school, 137; granted Southern 
Minnesota R. R., 161; granted Hast- 
ings and Dakota R. R., 161 ; claimed 
for University, 162; swamp, 164; 
granted University, 166. 

La Noue, 42. 



La Place, instructs Nicollet, 90. 

La Pointe, 27 ; mission at, 29; county of, 
106. 

La Salle, 31; expedition of, 32; parts 
with Hennepin, 33. 

Lea, Luke, Indian commissioner, 115. 

Lean Bear, chief, 147. 

Leaping Rock, described, 90. 

Leavenworth, Colonel, 65; relieved of 
command, 70. 

Leech Lake, why so named, 52. 

Le Jeune, Paul, 26. 

Lester, Col. H. C, commanded 3d Regi- 
iment, 139. 

Le Sueur, witness of Proces Verbal, 38; 
builds a fort, 39; at court of France and 
building Ft. L'Huillier, 40; sends 
supplies to Ft. L'Huillier, 41; sends 
supposed ore to France, 41. 

Lincoln, President, pardons Sioux, 152. 

Linctot, commands at La Pointe and 
treats with Dakotas, 43. 

Little Crow, treats with Pike, 58; up- 
braids English, 62; village of, 70; who, 
S3; leads outbreak of 1S62, 143; invests 
Ft. Ridgely, 145; defeats Strout, 150; 
retreats, 152; shot in Big Woods, 154. 

Little Paul, 124, 128. 

Lone Rock, 92. 

Long, Maj. S. H., leads an expedition 
in 1817, 63; leads another expedition 
in 1823, 74. 

Long Lake, battle of, 150. 

Long River, credited by Nicollet, 93. 

Loomis, David B., president of Council, 
112. 

Lower Agency, attacked, 144. 

Ludden, John G., speaker of House, 116. 

Mackinaw, 42. 

Maidens, boulders, described, 88. 

Manito, natural stone image, 88; re- 
ferred to, 90. 

Mankato, settlement of, meaning, 117. 

Marble, family of, 128. 

Marest, Father, witness of Proces- 
Verbal, 38. 

Marsh, John, who, 83. 



241 



Marsh, Captain, falls into an ambuscade, 

144. 145- 

Marshall, W. R., nominated for dele- 
gate, 123; at Ft. Ridgely, 147; bi- 
ography of, 160; railroad commissioner, 
171. 

Mascoutins, tribe of, 39. 

McGill, Governor A. R., biography of, 
185. 

McKenzie, trader, 72. 

McLaren, Maj.,at relief of Birch Coolie, 
149. 

McLeod, Martin, president of Council, 
117. 

McPhaill, Col. Sam., at relief of Dirch 
Coolie, 149. 

Mdewakantonwans, 20, ;^7,; band men- 
tioned, 115. 

Medary, appointed by Buchanan, 130. 

Meeker, Bradley B., Justice, 106. 

Menard, lesson of his experience, 
36. 

Mendota, meaning of, 65. 

Michigan, Territory of, 57, 69. 

Military reservations, first of, 58. 

Mille Lacs, 31. 

Miller, biography of, 156. 

Minerals, i8. 

Minneopa, meaning of, 126. 

Minnesota, first state to ofi"er troops, 
137; territorial boundaries, 105; ter- 
ritorial organization, 105; river, 19; 
river and valley examined, 75. 

Mission of St. Michael, 43. 

Missouri, skirmish of, 155. 

Mississippi, head of, 19; ultimate source 
of, 79. 

Montagne Trempe el Eau, where, mean- 
ing of name, 63. 

Ml rrison, William, trader, visits Lake 
Itasca in 1803-4 and 1S11-12, 76; letter 
to his brother, 76; route of, 83. 

Morrison, Allen, trader, 76. 

Murray, VV. P., president of Council, 
122. 

Nadouessioux, who they were, 26; men- 
tioned, 30. 



Napoleon, cedes what is now partly in 
Minnesota, 56. 

Nelson, R. R., Associate Justice, 120. 

New Ulm, site mentioned, 74 ; attacked 
in Sioux massacre, 146; attacked a 
second time, 146. 

Nicolet, Jean, explorer and interpreter, 
25- 

Nicollet, traces inlets of Lake Itasca, 75; 
describes head of the Mississippi, 77; 
life of, 88 ; commissioned to examine 
northwest territories, 90; visits and 
names Undine region, 92; examines 
Castle Rock, 92 ; death of, 94. 

Nobles, family of, 12S. 

Normal School at Winona, 161. 

Norns, Jas. S., speaker of House, 122. 

North, J. W., heads constitutional con- 
vention, 130. 

Northwest Company, fur traders, estab- 
lished, 54 ; emissaries of, 63 ; yield 
territory to American Company, 6y; 
unites with Hudson Bay Company, 
70. 

Northwestern R. R. Co., 121. 

Ojibwas, 20; gain a foot-hold in Minne- 
sota, 50; contend with Dakotas, 52 ; 
fight Dakotas on the Pomme de Terre ; 
fight in war of 1812, 62; break Cass 
treaty, 74 ; make treaty of Prairie Du 
Chien,8o; sign treaty of Fond Du Lac; 
attacked at Ft. Snelling by Dakotas, 
Si ; cede lands, 95 ; hold council at 
Ft. Snelling, 95; fight at Pokeguma, 
96 ; flee from Pokeguma, 98. 

Olmsted, S. B., president of Council, 
120. 

Olmsted, David, president of Council, 
loS; nominated for delegate, 123. 

Omahas, 20. 

Otesse, trader, 76. 

Other-day, 12S; saves large party of 
whites, 145. 

Page, Sherman, impeached, 176. 

Pans, treaty of, 54. 

Pembina, meaning, 72. 

Pemidji, Lake, meaning of, 76. 



/242 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Pendergast, W. W., at siege of Hutchin- 
son, 150. 

Penicaut, allusion to, 85. 

Penikese, island, alluded to, 93. 

Perrot, Nicholas, 28, 29, 30; in Proces- 
Verbal, 37 ; builds Ft. St. Antoine, 37; 
lesson of his experience, 37. 

Peteler, Captain F., commands sharp- 
shooters, 139. 

Physical Features, 15. 

Picard du Gay, 33. 

Pierce, Oliver, at siege of Hutchinson, 

150- 

Pigeon River, 46. 

Pike, his character, 57 ; purpose of his 
expedition, 57 : arrives at Prairie Da 
Chien, 60; mistakes source of the 
Mississippi, 75. 

Pillagers, who, 52. 

Pillsbury, biography of, 174 ; acts in be- 
half of locust sufferers, 173. 

Pilot Knob, 110, 115. 

Pipestone, quarry described, 87 ; visited 
by Nicollet, 90; creek, 90. 

Poage, Sarah, mission teacher, 94, 95. 

Poinsett, secretary of war, 96. 

Pointe au Sable, where situated, 43. 

Pokeguma, Lake of, 96. 

Pond, S. W., helps to establish a Dakota 
mission, 94. 

Pond, G. H., helps to establish a Dakota 
mission, 94, 95; interprets Mendota 
treaty, 116. 

Position and Surface, of Minnesota, 16. 

Prairie Aux Aisles, where and why so 
named, 64. 

Prairie Du Chien, fur mart, 48; outpost 
of settlements, 65 ; tribes meet at. So ; 
treaty of brokers, 81. 

Prince Rupert, 28. 

Proces-Verbal, first official document 
relating to Miiniesota, 37. 

Public Instruction, superintendent of, 
137- 

Rainy Lake, 46, 75. 

Randall, John A., railroad com- 
missioner, 171. 



Ramsey, made territorial governor, 106; 
Indian commissioner, no; at home, 
112; Indian commissioner, 115 ; pict- 
ures progress of Territory, 117; bi- 
ography, 136; seeks aid in Sioux 
massacre, 147; elected U. S. senator, 153. 

Red River, why so named, 72 ; carts, 136. 

Red Rock, why so named, 35 ; Meth- 
odists at, 95. 

Red Wing, village of, 70. 

Regiment, 1st, organized and record of 
in 1S61, 13S ; 2d, organized and 1S61 
record, 139; 3d, organized and 1S61 
record, 139; 2d, :S62 record, 140; 3d, 
in 1862, surrenders, 140; 4th, 1S62 
record, 140 ; 5th, 1862 record, 140 ; 6th, 
1862, partly stationed at Ft. Snelling 
and in Sioux campaign, 147 ; 7th, 
1S62, at Ft. Ridgely, 147 ; ist, in 1S63, 
record of, 154, 155; 2d, 1863 record, 
155; 3d, 1863 record, 155; 4th, 1863 
record, 154; 5th, 1863 record, 154; 6th, 

1863 record, 155; 7th, 1863 record, 155; 
9th, 1863 record, 155; 10th, 1863 record, 
155; ist, 1864 record, 157 ; 2d, record 
in 1864, found on 156, 157, and 159; 3d, 

1864 record, 156, 157, and 158; 4th, 1864 
record, 156 and 159; 5th, 1864 record, 
156 and 157 ; 6th, 1864 record, 157 ; 7th, 
1864 record, 157 and 158; 8th, 1864 
record, 158; 9th, 1864 record, 157; loth, 
1864 record, 157 ; nth, 1864 record, 156 
and 158; 8th, 1865 record, 159; the 
other troops, 1865 record, 159. 

Rene Menard, 27, 28. 

Renville, trader, 72 ; leads Indians 
against Americans in 1812,62; inter- 
preter with expedition of Long in 
1S23, 74. 

Riggs, S. R., missionary, 95; founds a 
mission at Traverse des Sioux, 99 ; in- 
terprets treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 
115; describes Hazehvood Republic, 
124. 

Rice, H. M., delegate to Congress, 120 ; 
elected delegate, 123. 

Rice Lake, a source of the Red River, 76. 



243 



River Systems, of Minnesota, i6. 
Rogers, Major, commandant at Mack- 
inaw, 48. 

Rolette, leads Indians against Ameri- 
cans in 181 2, 62. 

Rolette, Joseph, member of Council, 126. 

Rollingstone, settlement on, 117. 

Roque., interpreter, 63. 

St. Anthony Falls, discovered and 
named, 33. 

St. Croix, river, 31 ; water power of, 95; 
county of, 99. 

St. Francis, river, 36. 

St. Lusson, 30. 

St. Paul, settled, 100 ; chapel of, 100 ; de- 
clared capital of Minnesota, 106. 

St. Peter, river, name changed, 117. 

St. Pierre, river, 38. 

St. Pierre, who and for what noted, 45 ; 
seeks a northwest passage, 46. 

St. Remi, now called, 41. 

Sanborn, Col. John B., commands 4th 
Regiment, 140. 

Sandy Lake, 50, 69. 

Sangaskitons, who, 31. 

San Ildefonso, treaty of, 56. 

Santees, 19. 

Sauteurs, who, 59 ; smoking the calu- 
met, 60. 

Schoolcraft, mineralogist, 69; claims the 
discovery of Lake Itasca, 75 ; goes on 

i two expeditions, 82, 83 ; meets Indians 
at Ft. Snelling; deserts Allen, 85. 

Scott, General Winfield, 65. 

Seeger, William, impeached, 168. 

Seignelay, French minister of marine, 
32. 

Selkirk, who, 62 ; movements of, 65. 

Seymour, Samuel, artist, with 1823 ex- 
pedition of Long, 74. 

Shakopee, settlement of, 117; band of, 
143- 

Sharpshooters, 2d Company, join ist 
Regiment, 139. 

Sherburne, Moses, Associate Justice, 
119. 

Sherman, Major, 12S. 



Shetek, Lake, massacre near, 147. 

Sibley, pays tribute to Nicollet, 93 ; dele- 
gate to Congress, 105; chosen delegate 
again, 107; clerk at Mackinaw, 131; 
commands Indian expedition of 1862, 
147; frees captives, 152; in Indian 
campaign of 1863, 154. 

Sioux, try to capture Ft. St. Antoine, 
37 ; opposed by Foxes, 37 ; treat with 
Pike, 59; changes in life of, 140; in 
famine, 141, meditate an outbreak, 141 ; 
defeated at Wood Lake, 150 ; thirty- 
eight of hung, 152. 

Sissetons, J15. 

Sissitonwans, 20. 

Sleepy Eyes, chief, 147. 

Snelling, Colonel, commended by Gen. 
Scott, 66 ; ascends the Mississippi, 70. 

Snelling, Joseph, son of Col. S., with 
1823 expedition of Long, 74. 

Soil of Minnesota, 17. 

Soldier's Lodge, 141. 

Stevens, J. D., missionary, 94. 

Stone, Lucy C, mission teacher, 94. 

Stones, building, 18. 

Stony Lake, battle of, 155. 

Straights of Anian, 35. 

Strout, Captain, defeated by Little 
Crow, 150. 

Sturgeon Island, 75. 

Sully, Colonel Alfred, commands ist 
Regiment, 139 ; in campaign of 1863 ; 
abandons Indian campaign, 158. 

Sussitongs, who, 60. 

Swan River, site of Pike's stockade, 59. 

Swift, biography of, 153. 

Swiss, exodus from Selkirk colony, 82 ; 
squat on public domain, 96. 

Tahamie, Sioux ally of the Americans 
in war of 1812, 62. 

Taliaferro, Maj. Lawrence, character of, 
70; his opinions of various tribes, 70; 
seeks to make peace between Ojibwas 
and Dakotas,74; sells Harriet, wife of 
Dred Scott, 88 ; assists missionaries, 
94- 

Talon, 30. 



244 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Taney, renders Dred Scott decision, 88. 

Taylor, N. C. D., speaker of House, 120. 

Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, 62. 

Teetons, 19. 

Thatcher, family of, 12S. 

Titonwans, 20. 

Traders, British, spirit of, 60. 

Traverse des Sioux, why named so, 74; 

settlement of, 117. 
Trowbridge, C. C, topographer, 69. 
Tweedy, John H., Wisconsin delegate 

to Congress, 105. 
University of Minnesota, 114. 
Van Cleve, Col. H. P., commands 2d 

Regiment, 139. 
Vaudreuil, 42. 
Verandrie, who, 45; the father dies, 46 ; 

the brothers, 46. 
Vermillion River, 92. 
Versailles, treaty of, 47. 
Voyageurs, 29. 



Wabasha, chief, meaning of name, 54; 
upbraids English, 62. 

Wahpetons, 115. 

Wahpetonwans, 20. 

Wapashaw, chief, meaning o.' name, 64. 

Wapekutes, 20; band of, 115. 

Webster, V., victim at Acton, 143. 

Welch, William, Chief Justice, 119; ren- 
ders an important decision, 122. 

White Lodge, chief, 147. 

Williamson, T. S., pioneer missionary, 
94^ 95 I goes to Kaposia, 102. 

Wilson, Clara D., victim at Acton, 143. 

Winnebagoes, begin border war, 82 ; 
placed on Minnesota reservation, 100. 

Winnipeg, meaning of, 75. 

Winona, meaning of, 117. 

Wolcott, Indian agent, 69. 

Wood Lake, battle of, 150. 

Yanktons, 19; make trouble at the 
Upper Agency, 129. 



